Soul Mates
by Mertz
Summary: K&A the journey to find one's soul mate can sometime be treacherous... labeled M for strong language and adult content.
1. Chapter 1

Welcome to Soul Mates…as always I want to thank the ladies that give me a push and help me with the editing of this story so you the readers see as few mistakes as possible, CMS, Wade Wells and Xia Cheyenne. It is always funny to me that each of you ladies find different errors than the other two.

I'm afraid my writing pal, Cypher was kept under wraps a bit in this one, even though Xia's Scythe kept trying to get her to come out and play…my apologies if I disappoint a few of you that love the, "extracurricular activities" scenes. There aren't as many in this story.

Many thanks to Harmony W, Rocky O and Dark E for all their input and encouragement as well.

I make no claims to Voltron or any WEP characters.

Enjoy Chapter 1

Mertz

Soul Mates:

"You know…I've always been amazed by the idiotic advice you receive from people sometimes. Look before you leap, take time to smell the roses, think before you speak, life's too short and don't take things for granted. But then I am also amazed by how sometimes the small things can change the course of your life. If I had only turned left instead of right or stopped when the light turned yellow instead of pressing harder on the gas pedal.

Small things…sometimes things that seem so inconsequential at the time, but can cause such drastic changes when one least expects it. Like remembering the empty milk container at home when I was at the grocery store instead of having to stop by a minimart on the way home… "

_A deep sigh leaves Keith as the beautiful woman dances in the ocean surf in front of him. He watches as a smile lights up her face and her blue eyes dance with mischief as she kicks the cold ocean water at him._

_An answering smile crosses his face as he turns to the side to avoid the worst of the cold water and turns back to growl at her, "You will pay for that one…" Keith runs at her and grabs her around the waist, listening to her squeal with delight as he swings her around before holding her against him and staring down into her still smiling face. _

_Impossibly electric blue eyes smile up into the dark as night ones in front of her as she leans up on her tiptoes and kisses him lightly on the lips before saying, "It's time…"_

_A confused look crosses Keith's face as he asks, "Time for what?"_

_The woman disappears out of his arms and Keith looks around for her. He finds her several feet away, her image fading slowly as she replies, "You know…" and disappears._

Keith jerks upright and reaches out in front of him, "NO WAIT!" Waking up, he looks around desperately before realizing where he is. Flopping back onto his pillows, a tear runs out of his eye as his mind races, _Why now? I haven't dreamed about her in over a year…_

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Keith jerks Black lion hard to the right to bank around a tight corner and watches as Red lion follows behind him, quickly followed by the other lions with Princess Allura bringing up the rear. Next Keith dives toward the ground at high speed and pulls up at the last second.

He flips the lion in the air and pauses as he watches the other lions follow suit. His heart stops for a moment as he watches Blue lion shake slightly and almost crash into the ground, "ALLURA!"

Blue lion shoots back up in the air and Allura appears on his video screen, her face pale, "I'm fine Keith. I'm not sure what happened…Blue failed to respond for a moment."

Keith takes several deep breaths to calm his fast beating heart before Pidge appears on his screen, "Must be something wrong with the servos in the reverse thrusters…Hunk and I will get it checked over after practice."

His mind still racing at Allura's close call, Keith calls out, "With Blue malfunctioning I am calling an end to practice early. Let's head back to the castle. Pidge, Hunk, I want a status report on that lion before dinner tonight and have it back up and running in time for practice tomorrow morning."

A snorting sound comes from the pilot of Red lion, "Come on Keith…tomorrow is Allura's birthday. The least you could do is not make her get up at the butt crack of dawn."

Keith rolls his eyes as a giggling sound escapes the soon to be birthday girl. A droll tone enters Keith's voice as he responds, "Lance, you would use any excuse to avoid getting up for practice. Next thing I know, you will want the morning off for April Fool's day."

Hunk starts laughing as he breaks in, "Well Cap…even a fool like Lance needs a day off once in a while."

Laughter from Pidge and Allura fills the comm. as Lance pipes in, "Ha ha ha…very funny big guy." He turns his attention back to Keith, "Come on Keith…have a heart, for once."

A smile slips onto Keith's face even as he tries to keep his face neutral, "Princess…is that what you want from me on your birthday?"

The unintended loaded question turns Allura's cheeks red as thoughts of what she would really like from her Captain fills her mind. Images of Keith holding her tightly against his hard body while kissing her come to mind and she starts as he continues, "A morning off?"

She tilts her head to the side slightly as she coyly asks, "That depends…did you get me a gift already?"

A full smile does cover Keith's face as he thinks, _In the two years that we have been here Allura is still the same…she is always like a expectant child when it comes to gifts… _The smile leaves his face slightly as the thought continues, _Probably because she never really received many gifts growing up._ He clears his throat a bit as he arches an eyebrow at the video prompt of the Princess and asks, "Fishing?"

He laughs as a pouty look briefly crosses her face, "Come on Keith…just a small hint?"

All of the men start laughing, for the last week she has been looking for hints to her birthday gifts from each of the members of the force. In return, each of them has enjoyed tormenting Allura, some complete lies and others just tantalizing hints to what they each have gotten her.

A wicked smile crosses Keith's face as he taunts her, "I don't know Allura…would I have gotten you anything?"

Allura glares at the video prompt and turns her face away in a huff, "I won't fall for that one again Keith… You guys are just mean."

He laughs even harder as she briefly turns back to the prompter and sticks her tongue out at him. As Keith wipes the tears from his eyes, he finally manages to calm down enough to speak normally again, "Alright…practice will be delayed tomorrow morning in honor of her Highness' 20th birthday. Meet in the control room at 0800 instead of 0500."

Lance lets out a whoop at the pronouncement then adds, "Last one back to the castle is a slug!" and races off in Red. Keith arches a brow and adds, "Not going to be me…"

He kicks in the afterburners and pushes Black to the limits as the others quickly follow in the race back to the castle.

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Keith sits at dinner that night with a smile on his face as Allura continues probing different members of the force for hints, "Come on Lance…one small hint."

Lance smiles fondly at her then teases, "A hint for a kiss…"

Nanny enters the room just as Lance finishes and yells at him, "You are no gentleman." Lance ducks a slap Nanny aims at the back of his head. Turning to Allura, Nanny places her hands on her hips, "I forbid you from kissing this ruffian." She huffs and walks back into the kitchen.

A chuckle escapes Keith at the disgruntled look on Lance's face and the disappointed one on Allura's. Unable to help himself, Keith can't help but rub it in, "It wouldn't have worked anyway Allura…Lance would have just lied to you."

Laughing, he ducks as Lance throws his spoon at him but gets hit in the face by Allura's napkin. Pulling it off his face, he gives a glaring Allura the evil eye as Lance laughs at him, "Getting rusty in your old age Commander?"

Hunk and Pidge join in the laughter as Keith shakes his head while smiling and a whisper passes through his mind, _'Hmmm…Keith…'_

Keith turns toward Allura confused, "Did you say something Princess?"

Allura is the next one to look confused as she shakes her head, "No…"

Lance cracks up laughing, "Not only is he getting rusty, he is hearing things too…"

Keith rolls his eyes, "Alright enough." He glances at Allura as she rises from the table to follow the others out of the room, _I could have sworn she said my name…_

Shaking his head as if to clear it; Keith rises and follows the others.

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_Keith feels himself walking into a darkened room. He calls out, "Hello?" as a faint glimmer appears before him. Walking forward he feels something brush against his face and Keith jerks backward a bit. Reaching out with his hand he touches what had brushed against him and he grabs it with both hands, "A balloon?"_

_The glimmer brightens a bit more and Keith releases the balloon to step forward again. He spots a figure standing with its back to him and watches as the figure moves around the table, a small candle within delicate fingers lighting other candles on a cake._

_With each lit candle, the room brightens more and Keith can finally make out the figure, "Andrea?"_

_The lady looks up and a bright smile crosses impossibly red lips as she pushes her long, black hair back behind her ear, "Hello Keith."_

_Keith looks around the room. He can now make out colorful streamers and balloons along with a large banner across the back wall that says, "Happy Birthday!" on it. His eyes continue to take in his surroundings before he glances back at Andrea, "What's going on?"_

_An amused laugh escapes the beautiful woman as she responds, "What does it look like?" Gesturing to the cake she adds, "A birthday party."_

_Keith steps closer as Andrea walks around the table to stand behind the lit cake as he asks, "For whom?"_

_He watches as Andrea bends over the cake as if to blow out the candles and pauses as she lifts her head again. However it is no longer Andrea…blond hair the color of sunshine replaces the black and sapphire blue eyes look up at him briefly and she says, "It's time…" before she bends over, blows out the candles and the room goes dark again._

Keith jerks upright in bed as his fast beating heart continues to pound. Turning on the light beside his bed, he looks around his room as if expecting to see the balloons and streamers still surrounding him. Gasping Keith lies back on his pillows again as his muddled mind races, _What the hell is Andrea trying to tell me?_

Turning over, it takes Keith a while to fall back to sleep.

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At 7:30 the next morning, Allura walks into castle control to find Coran watching the monitors. Glancing upward she sees the image of Keith on one monitor and the other showing Blue lion flying around in the air. Allura steps up to the dais and asks, "What is Keith doing in my lion?"

Coran turns toward her and smiles, "Happy birthday Princess. The Commander wanted to make sure the lion was in perfect working order before he allowed you to fly it again."

Allura turns her gaze back to the screen and watches as Keith starts a high speed dive toward the lake in front of the castle. Fear curdles in her stomach as she watches him get closer and closer to the lake and not pull up. She listens to Coran as he grabs the comm. unit, "KEITH, PULL UP!"

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Inside Blue lion Keith is yanking hard on the shaking navigation control as Coran's voice fills the lion yelling at him to pull up. Keith yells at the controls, "Come on Blue, _come on_!" A sudden fear fills him, fear that seems unknown to him. Keith shoves the feelings away as he pulls hard on the navigation control once more, "UP DAMMIT!"

The lion finally responds and just before Blue lion plunges into the lake it grazes the surface before Keith manages to pull the lion back up into the sky. Letting out a deep breath of relief, Keith turns the lion toward the castle as Coran asks, "What happened?"

Keith doesn't answer at first as strange feelings come over him, first relief then anger. Shaking his head slightly, he ignores the feelings to answer Coran, "Well…Pidge and Hunk haven't gotten the problem with the lion's navigations systems fixed yet."

A deep seated anger overcomes Keith at the thought of Allura being in the lion and crashing. His tone becomes very harsh, "Get Pidge and Hunk in the repair bay immediately. Morning practice is canceled."

He looks at Coran as he acknowledges and grimaces when he notices an obviously upset Princess behind Coran then turns the lion toward the repair areas.

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Allura walks into the repair bay to find Keith standing, arms crossed in front of Pidge and Hunk glaring at them, "I thought you told me last night the navigation problem was repaired!"

A sputtering sound leaves Hunk as Pidge speaks up, "We did…we ran diagnostics and then I took it out and performed a dive. I didn't have any problems."

Keith's gaze briefly leaves the men in front of him as he glances up to see who has entered the repair bay. He doesn't acknowledge Allura's presence, instead turning his gaze back to Pidge, "What speed?"

A look of concentration crosses Pidge's face as he thinks back, "Mach 5."

Some of Keith's anger dissipates, but the look on his face doesn't change and neither does the tone of his voice, "Half the speed I tried this morning. At Mach 10 the entire system shook in my hands and I barely pulled up before crashing into the lake."

Hunk and Pidge cringe as Keith continues, "I don't care if you have to rip the entire navigation system apart and rebuild it, I want that lion fixed today and it better not even shake a little at Mach 10."

They salute Keith and head for the docked Blue lion as Keith turns toward Allura with a small smile on his face, "Morning Princess…happy birthday."

She nods her head in acknowledgement then blasts him, "What were you doing flying at the lake at Mach 10 Keith? You could have been killed!"

Keith can feel the anger emanating from Allura. He arches a brow at her and uncrosses his arms, "Princess, I had to test the system to make sure it would be safe for you."

He doesn't even flinch at the sapphire eyes glaring at him as she sarcastically asks, "And you couldn't do that starting at a higher altitude so you would have had more time to pull up?"

Keith has the good grace to blush as Allura continues, "Don't ever do something that stupid again!"

Noting the start of tears in her eyes, Keith starts to say something as she turns around and stalks away from him. She brushes past Lance on her way out and Keith lets out a deep sigh as Lance approaches him, "For it being her birthday, Allura doesn't look happy. What did I miss?"

Lance notes the redness of Keith's face and continues, "Or should I ask, what did you do?"

A small smile lights up Lance's face as he watches Keith turn away and swear profusely before turning back and muttering, "Almost crashed in Blue lion while testing the navigation systems."

The smile leaves Lance's face as he grimaces, "I take it Allura watched?"

Keith nods and Lance shakes his head, "Talk about something you didn't want her seeing…"

"Yeah…tell me something I don't already know, genius."

Lifting an eyebrow at Keith's sarcastic tone; Lance turns to walk away, "I'll go see if I can help Hunk and Pidge. At least they won't be biting my head off."

Keith takes several deep breaths to calm down as he watches Lance walk away from him, "Shit…I'm going to have to apologize to him later." Running his hand through his hair in agitation, Keith walks out of the repair bay.

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Keith sighs as he sits back in his chair, after his fight with Allura; he had decided to work in his office for the day. Glancing at the clock he sighs, _Thirty minutes till dinner and Allura's birthday party._

Rubbing his face tiredly, he looks up when there is a knock at his door, "Yes?"

The door opens and Hunk, Pidge and Lance walk in. Keith smiles at his friends as Hunk glances around the office and Pidge elbows him to begin while Lance sits down in the chair in front of Keith's desk. After some throat clearing, Hunk rubs the back of his head and starts, "Well…we think we have Blue lion fixed."

Arching a brow at him, Keith's voice takes on a droll tone as he repeats, "Think?"

Hunk blushes as Pidge pipes up, "Lance took Blue out and had it up to Mach 15 in a dive."

Keith turns his dark gaze toward Lance, who shrugs, "I may not make much of a mechanic…but I can beat the hell out of a machine with the best of them." He sits a little more forward in his seat, "She didn't even so much as wobble."

A small smile crosses Keith's face as he turns back to Pidge and Hunk, "So what caused the problem?"

Hunk blushes again as Pidge shrugs, "We don't know…as you wanted, we took the entire system apart and put it back together again after running diagnostics on every board individually. Lance took her out and everything behaved as normal."

A feeling of unease curdles in Keith's stomach, "I don't like not knowing what caused the problem."

Hunk lets out a deep sigh, "It isn't like we can just replace the whole system Cap…we don't have the parts necessary for that kind of rebuild."

Keith grimaces as his mind runs through the scenarios, "What would it take to get the parts we need?"

His eyes move from Hunk to Pidge as he speaks up, "We can order from Earth…but with the way Doom has been raiding the supply ships…"

Keith runs his hand through his hair agitated, "Alright, order the parts and have them notify us when they intend to send out the supply ship. We will meet it and bring it in. I do not like having Princess flying a lion that could potentially have a bad navigation system."

They nod and turn to leave but Keith's voice stops them, "The party is in twenty minutes…go get cleaned up. Place the order tomorrow."

They nod once more and leave the office. Lance slowly stands up, "Guess I better go grab a quick shower as well. I'm sure I smell like grease."

Keith smiles then stops him, "Hey Lance, about earlier…"

Lance waves him off, "Don't worry about it Keith…you aren't used to a woman yelling at you for doing something stupid." He laughs at the look on Keith's face and turns to leave the office.

Rolling his eyes at Lance's laughter, Keith turns around in his chair to look out the window as he contemplates Allura's reaction to his almost crash this morning. Not liking where his thoughts are going, Keith gets up out of his chair and walks over to cabinet near the door and pulls out a wrapped box.

_I hope she likes this…_ Holding the box close to him, Keith leaves his office to freshen up before Allura's party.


	2. Chapter 2

I make no claims to Voltron or any WEP characters.

Enjoy Chapter 2

Mertz

Keith is standing by the dining room window looking out while waiting for the others to arrive, watching the sun set and admiring the orange and pink colors of the clouds in the sky. The sound of a door opening behind him has Keith turning around. He watches as Nanny brings in a dish of chocolate pudding to place beside the birthday cake.

After setting the dish down, Nanny turns and smiles at him, "Evening Commander. Perfect, I needed someone to test this pudding for me."

Surprised, Keith walks over to Nanny as she takes a spoon and dips into the pudding. Holding out the spoon to him she continues, "I didn't have one of my ingredients, so I made a substitution. I am hoping you can't tell the difference."

Allura walks into the room as Keith takes the spoon from Nanny and lifts it to his mouth. However, some of the pudding falls off the spoon and Keith catches it with the fingers of his free hand. He finishes cleaning off the spoon and hands it back to Nanny, "Tastes wonderful as always Nanny."

Nanny smiles and hands him a napkin before leaving the room. Allura watches as Keith looks at the napkin for a moment then at his pudding stained fingers before he licks the pudding off. His head snaps around as he hears, _'Can I lick too?'_

"Excuse me Princess?" His face slightly reddens as she looks at him confused, "I didn't say anything Keith."

Confusion fills Keith, "Didn't you just ask…" He stops when Allura continues to look at him confused, "Never mind."

Allura smiles at him, "I think Lance is right… You are starting to hear things in your old age."

She laughs when he rolls his eyes and then steps toward him to stare up into his eyes, "I'm sorry I yelled at you earlier Keith…you just frightened me with that dive."

Keith studies her face for a moment before he speaks quietly, "You were right, it was a stupid thing to do while testing the lion."

She begins to step closer to him, "Kei…" then turns away as Hunk and Pidge walk into the room carrying their gifts and start wishing Allura happy birthday. Keith smiles at her as she follows them over to the table where Keith's gift to her is already placed.

Lance strolls in a moment later singing, "Happy, Happy Birthday, from all of us to you…We wish it was our birthday so we could party too!" Allura laughs at him then looks at him with an arched brow as she notices he is empty handed. Lance laughs at her, "My gift isn't something that can be wrapped. You will get it soon enough Princess." His eyes meet Keith's and both smile at how obvious Allura is when it comes to gifts.

Coran enters the room and soon everyone sits down to Nanny's outstanding birthday meal for Allura. After everyone has eaten their fill, Allura looks around expectantly at the gifts. Keith smiles as Nanny asks, "Do you want your cake first or the gifts?"

Keith almost laughs out loud as Allura doesn't hesitate, "Gifts."

She stands up to walk to the pile then stops when Lance's voice fills the air. "Since we have to go out to the garden for my gift to Princess, why don't we start there."

Allura grabs Lance's arm and drags him out of the dining room, followed by a smiling and laughing Voltron force. They reach the garden and Allura looks around then turns and frowns at Lance, "What is my gift?"

Lance smiles at her and leads her to the back of the garden. Just off the main path, hanging off the heaviest branch of the tree is a swing. Allura walks over to it and looks back at Lance, "A swing?"

Nodding at her, Lance gestures to the seat and Allura sits down as Lance walks behind her to give her a push, "As a child I loved spending time on swings. It was a place I could go to think and enjoy a beautiful day." A wolfish grin spreads across his face, "Until I discovered how much ladies like to be pushed on them by their boyfriends." He laughs as Allura gasps out, "LANCE!" and he pushes her then walks around to join the others.

Allura closes her eyes and enjoys the feeling of the air moving through her hair as the swing moves forward and back. The others all smile at Allura's pleasure with such a simple gift and Pidge finally clears his throat, "Some of us gave you better gifts Princess." then, "Ouch, Lance!"

Eyes opening again, Allura looks over to see Pidge rubbing the back of his head as Lance glares down at him. Laughing, she reluctantly gets up from the swing and walks with them back into the castle to open her other gifts.

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Allura sits back down at the table as Pidge grabs his present and presents it to her, "Here Princess, I hope you like it."

Smiling, Allura starts to pull off the paper then opens the box. Her eyes light up as out of the tissue she pulls out a water globe of Arus, "It's beautiful Pidge!" Pidge smiles at her, "If you turn the switch on, the planet spins and it plays your favorite lullaby."

Allura flips the switch and watches as Arus slowly turns in the globe and listens to the hauntingly familiar lullaby her mother used to sing to her. She fights to keep tears away as she turns to Pidge and gives him a hug, "Thanks!"

Setting the globe aside, Allura turns to Hunk who approaches with his gift, "Enjoy Princess."

Allura accepts the gift and once again slowly pulls the wrapping paper off. Her eyes light up as she finishes uncovering the box and looks up at Hunk, "Chocolates?"

Smiling, he nods at her, "Not just any chocolate, German chocolate from Earth. It is some of the smoothest chocolate you will ever get to eat."

She eagerly opens the box and pops a chocolate into her mouth. Everyone watches as her eyes close as she enjoys the sweet treat. Opening her eyes, Allura looks at Hunk, "I've never had such wonderful chocolate."

Standing up, she gives him a hug and then takes her seat, passing the chocolates around to share as Keith hands her his gift, "Happy birthday Princess."

Allura smiles up her thanks as she takes the box and pauses a moment before she starts carefully removing the paper. Keith watches her intently as she sets the paper on the table then opens the box. Out of the tissue, Allura pulls out another globe, but turns confused eyes to Keith, "What is it?"

Keith smiles at her and looks over at Lance, "Can you turn off the lights?"

Lance rises and walks across the room to hit the light switch as Keith takes the globe from Allura and turns the switch on. As the room goes dark, the globe emits lights that make it look like a starry night in the dining room. Keith smiles at the look of wonder on Allura's face as he speaks, "I know you were upset to lose your view of the night sky when we moved you to an interior room after Lotor almost kidnapped you." Referring to the time Lotor had broken into Allura's bedroom by breaking through the glass of her room. He continues, "I hope this will help solve that problem a little bit."

Allura rises quickly from her seat to wrap her arms around Keith's neck while hugging him, "Thank you!"

Keith rubs her back then makes a slight noise when she doesn't release him right away. Lance turning on the light seems to wake Allura up and she steps back, smiling up into his face while a tear slides down her cheek.

Reaching up, Keith wipes the tear away, "I'm guessing you like the gift then."

A small laugh escapes Allura as she turns away from him to turn the globe off. Keith watches her then almost chokes when he hears, _'Too bad Lance turned the light back on…I could have stayed in his arms all night.'_

Shocked, Keith turns to look at the others in the room and is even more shocked to notice they are all either smiling at Allura as she puts the globe away or talking amongst each other like she never said anything.

When Allura turns back to him, a look of concern crosses her features, "Keith, are you feeling alright? You look a little flushed."

Keith shakes his head slightly to clear it, clamps his mouth shut and turns away from Allura. Allura watches him walk toward his seat to grab his glass and take a drink, wondering what is going on with him. Dismissing it, Allura turns as Nanny approaches her with the birthday cake and proceeds to light the candles on it.

Allura takes her seat at the head of the table as Nanny finishes lighting the cake then steps back as the others sing happy birthday to her. A broad smile crosses her face as Pidge calls out, "Make a wish!" and Lance adds, "Make it something for yourself, peace on Arus can wait for Christmas."

A broad smile crosses Allura's face as she thinks, _A kiss from Keith…_ and blows out the candles. In her mind she hears, _'WHAT THE HELL?'_ with Keith's voice echoing in her mind.

Allura lifts her gaze up to find Keith staring at her with a shocked look on his face. As the congratulations continue around them, Allura meets Keith's stunned eyes and thinks, _Keith heard me?_

She watches as Keith shakes his head slightly then hears his anxious voice again, _'Why the hell can I hear you in my head Allura?'_

Allura's eyes go wide with horror that her birthday wish was heard by Keith before she manages to ask, _'How long have you been hearing me?'_

Before Keith can answer her though, Allura is interrupted as Nanny hands her a piece of the sliced cake and Coran bends down to place a kiss on her cheek, "Happy birthday Princess. I am going to retire for the evening."

She watches Coran leave the room then turns her gaze back to find Keith accepting a piece of cake from Nanny but not eating it. His gaze returns to hers, _'Since last night or this morning…I think. How is this possible Allura?'_

Noticing they are getting some strange looks from Lance, Allura turns her gaze to her cake and picks up her fork to begin eating it. She pushes out a final thought to Keith, _'Later…Lance is noticing us staring at each other.'_

Forcing his gaze away from Allura, Keith picks up his fork and picks at his cake as well.

Once Hunk is done eating his third slice of cake he stands up and yawns, "Wow…that was awesome." He smiles over at Allura, "I think I'm going to hit the sack though." Pidge stands up as well, "Good idea."

Allura returns the smile and wishes him and Pidge good night. Lance stands up as well, "Need help with the gifts Princess?"

Before she can answer Keith speaks up, "I'll help her out Lance. You had a long day helping Hunk and Pidge…why don't you head for bed."

A smirk crosses Lance's face as he turns away to the door, "Thanks buddy… night."

Keith helps Allura gather up her gifts and follows her out of the room. They walk quietly together until they reach Allura's room. Keith reaches around her and punches in the code to open the door. Allura meets his eyes for a moment then turns away to walk into the room.

Keith follows her over to a table near the far wall and sets her gifts down there. Taking a step back, he watches as Allura pulls out his gift to her and turns it on. As the room lights up with the night sky she turns to him, "Are you familiar with the concept of soul mates?"

Arching a brow, Keith nods at her, "It is a familiar concept in every culture Princess, the one person you are meant to be with."

A ghost of a smile crosses Allura's lips before she turns away from him once more as she speaks, "My parents were soul mates." She switches the globe back off before turning back to him, "Even though they died when I was a young child I remember watching my father walk into a room and my mother's eyes would light up as she looked at him."

She takes a step closer to Keith, "They would just look at each other and you could tell they were having a conversation as their facial expressions would change, but not a word would leave their lips."

An exasperated sigh escapes Keith as he crosses his arms and asks, "What does that have to do with this…connection, for lack of a better word, between you and I?"

Allura reaches out and places her hand on his arm, "In Arusian society, soul mates can speak with their minds Keith. It is the only person they can communicate like that with, it is how you know that person is meant to be your mate." She reaches up with her other hand to touch his cheek, a wondrous look in her eyes, _'You are my soul mate.'_

Keith pulls away from Allura as a look of anger enters his eyes, "I'm married Allura."

A look of total confusion crosses Allura's face, "How can that be? I read the personnel files on each of you when you came to Arus. Your marital status was listed as single Keith. All of you were."

Gritting his teeth, Keith growls at her, "My wife was murdered six months before we were deployed here. Andrea was _my _soul mate Allura, in every possible way."

Turning away, Keith walks across the room toward the door. Allura calls out to him, "Where are you going? What are you going to do?"

Keith turns back after hitting the button to the door and glares at her, "Well, I sure as hell am not going to kiss you." and he walks out the door.

A feeling of heartache and pain squeezes Allura's heart and tears form in her eyes as she turns back to Keith's present to her. She turns it on again and as the night sky fills her room, Allura sinks to the floor and begins to cry.


	3. Chapter 3

I make no claims to Voltron or any WEP characters.

Enjoy Chapter 3

Mertz

Allura arrives the next morning in the control room for practice and smiles lightly at the greetings from Lance, Pidge and Hunk. Her eyes move to Keith as he glances at her and then looks away. She feels tears starting in her eyes as Keith calls out, "Let's get out there."

Through the haze of tears, Allura runs for her launch tube, riding it out to Blue lion as her mind reels, _Why is he acting like I did something wrong?_

Keith grits his teeth as he hears Allura's thoughts going through his mind while riding out to Black lion. As his command chair rises into the lion, Keith is determined to ignore her and treat her the same way he always has as he places the key into the console.

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"Allura, I said starboard!" Keith watches as Blue lion changes positions to fly beside Red lion before he hears Allura speak, "Sorry."

Keith feels like hitting his head against the console as Allura continues making mistakes through practice. Unable to take it anymore he projects out to her, _'Get your mind on flying the lion Princess!'_

There is silence for a moment before he hears her response, _'Quite acting like a jerk to me and maybe I will be able to!'_

Keith takes a deep breath to calm his anger and calls out a new command, "Alright, now aim for the targets on the opposite side of the position you are flying."

When he receives responses from Lance and Allura, he continues, "Fire on my command. Three…two…one. Now!"

Keith observes with satisfaction as both pilots hit their targets and decides to call it a day, "Enough for today, let's head back to the castle."

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As everyone returns to castle control, Lance looks at Allura as she comes out of her tunnel, "Are you feeling alright Princess? You aren't usually that off during practice."

Allura watches out of the corner of her eye as Keith walks away from her to speak to Coran and sighs before answering Lance, "Guess I'm not feeling that well today."

Lance smiles lightly at her, "Too much birthday cake last night?"

"Maybe…" She glances toward Coran and Keith before adding, "Excuse me, I think I'm going to go lie down."

Keith's head comes up and he looks over to the door as Allura heads for it, _'What's wrong?'_

He watches as Allura pauses in her step then glances back at him before turning back to walk out the door. Answering as she turns the corner, Allura says, _'Everything.'_

Keith feels frustrated as he turns back to Coran to find the older man studying him, "Something wrong Commander?"

Shaking his head, Keith mutters, "Trying to figure out what is bothering Princess."

Coran arches a brow at him, "I noticed she wasn't flying as well as she normally does. Why don't you go ask her?"

Shrugging Keith responds, "Later." and goes back to covering the guard detail.

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Coran walks down a hallway later that afternoon and stops before a set of doors with the royal seal on them. Pushing a button he walks in to find Allura sitting at a study table within the royal library reading a book. Approaching her, he asks, "Princess, what is going on?"

Allura glances up at him and arches a brow, "What do you mean?"

Coran sighs as he sits down in a chair opposite her, "I mean you were obviously upset by something this morning with the way you flew during practice. When you left, the Commander looked a bit upset as well, but wouldn't tell me what was going on."

A deep sigh leaves Allura as she closes the book in front of her before she raises her gaze back to Coran, "Coran, do you remember how my parents would appear to have conversations in front of you without speaking?"

A smile crosses Coran's face as he replies, "That is because they were having conversations Princess…your parents were soul mates."

A curious look enters Allura's face as she states, "I didn't think you knew."

Coran's smile grows, "Not many people did, but when you are around two people as much as I was around the King and Queen…well, it is hard not to notice."

Allura nods at him before she continues, "I had forgotten about it until last night."

Coran arches a brow at her, "Why last night?"

She sits back in her chair more, looking away as she replies, "I found my soul mate."

A moment of silence hangs in the air before Coran asks, "And who might that be?"

"Keith…" Her gaze finds Coran's as she continues, "He had already started to hear my thoughts the day before yesterday. I didn't hear his until I blew out my birthday candles last night."

Coran wipes his moustache with his hand in a nervous gesture before he asks, "I take it by the way you are both acting today he isn't happy about it?"

Allura shakes her head sadly, "No, he isn't."

Coran slowly stands up, "Well, let's go to my office and call Keith in. Maybe among the three of us we can figure something out."

Allura rises from the table and follows Coran out of the room.

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Keith walks into Coran's study, "You wanted to see me Coran?" He pauses just inside the doorway when he notices Allura standing in front of Coran's desk, "What's going on?"

Allura smiles softly at him as Coran gestures Keith forward, "Allura was just informing me of the ah…new discovery."

Angry dark eyes find the blue ones across from him as Keith questions Allura, _'What the hell did you tell him?'_

The smile leaves Allura's face as she gazes back at the man destined to be her mate, _'Only that you are my soul mate.'_

Allura watches as the muscles in Keith's cheek ticks in anger before his gaze leaves her and he looks over at Coran, "She is mistaken."

Coran lifts an eyebrow at him in question, "So you didn't just have a silent conversation with Allura right in front of me." Coran stiffens slightly as he watches the anger erupt within Keith's eyes.

Keith stays calm, but his voice is very cold, "I already told Princess Allura, my wife was my soul mate. Her death doesn't make it any less so." Coran watches as Keith turns around and leaves the room.

Tears run down Allura's cheeks as she watches the door close. She turns back to Coran, "Why does he deny it? Me?"

Coran sighs deeply as he empathizes with the Commander, "Princess, I would guess he loved his wife deeply and doesn't want to be told she wasn't the one he belonged with."

Allura wipes at the tears running down her cheeks as she tries to process what Coran is telling her. She sniffles slightly before asking, "So what do I do?"

Coran walks around his desk and hugs Allura. Pulling back, he looks into the sapphire eyes that will always remind him of her mother even if her spirit is her father's, "Give him time. Let Keith think about it and work through things for himself, before you push so hard that you push him even farther away."

Smiling at the slight nod he receives in reply, Coran releases Allura to walk back around his desk. He continues to smile up at her as he adds, "Poor Nanny…she so had her heart set on you marrying a prince."

As he had hoped, a small smile crosses Allura's face again as she softly utters, "She will be most disappointed."

Coran chuckles before adding, "Go on…let me get my work done. Remember what I told you about being patient with the Commander. He will come around in time." He listens to the sigh that leaves Allura as she nods and turns around to leave the room.

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Coran walks down the quiet hallways of the castle late that night, his mind on the conversations he had with Allura earlier in the day. Upon reaching his destination, Coran pushes the button to open the door to the royal library.

Walking through the door he finds the person he figured would be in the room, "Commander…it's pretty late to be doing research."

Sitting by one of the study tables, Keith looks up from the book he reads, not bothering to respond to his statement. Instead, Keith greets him, "Evening Coran."

Coran smiles softly at him as he continues to walk over to him. Stopping in front of the table Keith is working at, Coran looks down at the open book and then back into Keith's face, "I thought you would be in here eventually looking this up."

Sitting back in his chair more, Keith arches a brow at Coran, "What is that supposed to mean?"

A soft chuckle escapes Coran as he sits down opposite Keith before responding, "Do not take offense to that statement Commander. I only meant you are a man who likes to know all of the facts first hand and will go looking for them."

Keith relaxes a bit then places his arms in front of him on the table. A moment of silence passes before Keith finally asks, "According to this book the occurrence of soul mates only happens between Arusians. I am not Arusian Coran, how can this even be possible?"

Coran folds his hands together as he studies the young man in front of him. When he speaks, his voice is calm and assured, "Keith, please remember that Arus hasn't always been the wasted world before you now. We had some of the most brilliant scientists in the galaxy. As such, we had our own space explorers before Zarkon attacked."

Keith's eyes grow wide as Coran continues, "It isn't impossible that one of our explorers visited Earth at some point and could have had relations that produced a child. You very well could have Arusian blood within you."

An intense look enters Keith's eyes as he processes what Coran told him. Coran sits quietly letting Keith process through the information before his dark brown eyes once again meets Coran's, "How do I control it?"

Coran smiles softly as he rephrases the question, "Do you mean; how do you block Allura out of your mind?"

The narrowing of Keith's eyes tells Coran he hit the nail on the head. Coran sits forward in his chair before Keith can say anything, "Keith, I know you feel that your lost wife was your soul mate but let me tell you something. You know that I was married and that I lost my wife and son when Zarkon attacked. According to the definition of soul mates in that book, my wife was not my soul mate. I could not read her mind, nor could she read mine. That doesn't mean I loved her any less. I could have spent my entire life with her and been happy for it."

Coran reaches forward and places a hand on top of Keith's, "I also believe that a man may love more than one woman in his life time. So if your wife had lived and you never came to Arus, I have no doubt that you would have lived a happy life. I only ask you to consider the fact that you could be equally happy with someone else."

Noting Keith's stiffness, Coran smiles at him and pats his hand before rising, "This old man needs to retire for the evening." He slowly walks to the door before turning back to Keith once more, "I feel I should also inform you of something else. Once an Arusian finds their soul mate, they pine for them. No one else will ever be able to make them happy. Good night Commander."

Keith watches Coran walk out of the library then turns his gaze back down on the book in front of him, determined to learn about this connection he seems to have with Allura.

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With practice cancelled due to bad weather, Keith sits at the breakfast table the next morning, determined to ignore Allura and the connection between them. Several times she had made comments to him through their link and in each instance, Keith ignored her until she spoke to him verbally.

Lance sits at the table sipping coffee and watching Keith and Allura, _What the hell is going on between those two?_ He continues to watch as Allura seems to become more upset as breakfast continues and the ridged set of Keith's jaw becomes more pronounced as his anger becomes more apparent. _They've barely spoken to each other, yet I could swear they were in the process of having a wicked fight._ Lance continues to sit silently and observe his two best friends.

Pidge looks over at Hunk, who seems to be oblivious to the tension in the room as he eats his breakfast. Pidge shakes his head at the big guy and turns his attention back to the others. While Lance seems to be oblivious as well, Pidge notices him watching Keith and Allura closely as he sits back and sips his coffee.

His attention next goes to his Commander, Pidge watches the stubborn set to his chin and the stiff way Keith is holding himself and wonders, _What is he so angry about this early in the morning?_ He shifts his gaze to the princess who isn't really eating, just picking at her food, _She looks like she could start crying anytime…_

Allura tries to keep the tears she feels rising to the surface from leaking out of her eyes. She had said good morning to Keith mentally only to be ignored until she had spoken to him. Several times she tried to reach out and converse with Keith but each time he continued to ignore her until she actually spoke to him. Frustrated, she had just yelled at him mentally, _'WHY WON'T YOU SPEAK TO ME?'_ only to be ignored yet again. Yet, she can tell from the tightening of his jaw, that Keith is becoming seriously angry.

She stares down at her plate as she continues to absent mindedly push the food around on it. Unable to eat as the pain of Keith's rejection continues to envelope her, she is startled when his angry voice suddenly fills her mind, _'Allura, quit playing with your damn food and eat!'_

Allura looks up to find Keith glaring at her for a moment more before he looks away again. She watches as he lets out a half snort of disgust and then quickly stands and leaves the room.

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Sitting in his office working on paperwork later that afternoon, Keith stops when a sudden and overwhelming feeling of sadness fills him. Pushing back from his chair, Keith is shocked when he feels his eyes begin to well up with tears.

Forcing the feelings away, Keith stands and quickly walks out of his office. Keith walks down the hallway as more of Allura's projected feelings hit him. The sadness fills him once more as well as warmth, _as if I were sitting in the sun…_

Keith changes direction and heads for the castle gardens.

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With the warmth of the sun beating down on her, Allura sits on the bench in the castle gardens with tears running down her face. To someone passing by it looks like she is studying the beautiful flowers in front of her, but inside her mind is racing, _Why? Why doesn't he want me? By definition of soul mates he is supposed to be with me. Supposed to want to be with me…_

So lost in her thoughts, she doesn't hear the sound of footsteps walking toward her and jumps when the object of her thoughts says her name behind her, "Allura?"

Allura turns around quickly within her seat and wipes at her cheeks as Keith looks down on her from above. His soft voice enters her mind, _'What's wrong?'_

His fingers drift down to her cheeks and he wipes the remaining tears away as she continues to stare silently up at him. Keith sighs as he sits down beside her, '_Why were you crying?'_

Allura looks away from Keith and stares down at the flowers in front of her before she replies, _'My soul mate doesn't want me.'_ She feels more tears escape her eyes and run down her cheeks before Keith's fingers touches her chin and turns her face toward him as he whispers her name, "Allura…"

As his fingers once again wipe the tears away, Allura leans into him and wraps her arms around Keith. Keith stiffens briefly then relaxes as he wraps his arms around her to comfort her. The feeling of happiness Allura feels suddenly pervades Keith's being and he sucks in a deep breath at the feeling of desire that follows and fills him, Allura's desire.

Feeling his body respond to her desire, Keith pulls back, "Allura, please…I can't control this."

Allura's sense of loss as he pulls away hits Keith hard. He grimaces before looking her in the eye, "Please Allura, you are overwhelming my mind. I can't shut it out, I need you to stop."

Keith takes a deep breath as he feels Allura withdrawing from him mentally. As his mind clears and he finally feels stable, Keith meets Allura's eyes again, "Thank you."

Allura nods slightly at him then turns away again to face the flowers. Keith turns his gaze to the flowers as well, "I missed the chapter about sharing feelings…I thought we would only share thoughts."

Silence fills the air for several moments before Allura enters his mind, _'Feelings are shared so that the two may truly become one.'_

She turns toward Keith and reaches up with her hand to gently touch his cheek before her lips lightly press against his. Keith feels Allura's pleasure and it doubles his own enjoyment. He pulls back slightly and studies the sapphire blue eyes inches from his own as her mind reaches out to him again, _'See…you feel my pleasure and I get to feel yours.'_

Realization hits Keith and he pulls fully away from Allura to stand up beside the bench. He stares down at her and says, "No Allura. I told you, I can't do this."

Allura watches him with sad eyes as Keith turns away from her and leaves the garden. Tears continue down Allura's cheeks as she turns back to her flowers.

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Keith runs his hand through his hair in agitation as Allura's sadness fills him again. Gritting his teeth, Keith turns toward the library once more, "I am going to find every bit of information I can on this…"

Several hours later he sighs as he rereads another passage, "Soul mates can know each other for years before they can finally speak to each other via the link. The time when the link opens varies from couple to couple, but typically occurs around the age of twenty." Sighing deeply, Keith mutters, "That explains why it is happening now." Turning the page, he continues to read, "Not only do soul mates share feelings, but they can use their telepathy to locate one another." Pausing for a moment Keith rubs his tired eyes, "How the hell does that work?"

Forcing his eyes to focus once more, Keith continues reading, "When the mind is open, a soul mate can locate their partner by feeling a vibration within them as they near their soul mate's location." He stops reading and lets the book fall back onto the table, "Where the hell is the chapter about controlling it?"

He pulls a book out from under the stack that is sitting on the table. Keith had gone through the library pulling every book that might even mention the occurrence of soul mates. Searching the index, he finds the page number he needs and opens the book to that section.

After reading for several minutes, Keith closes the book and pushes it away from him, "Dammit…same stuff that is in all the other books."

Grabbing the last book on the table, Keith once again goes through the index and finds the appropriate pages to turn to. His eyes light up when he finds the information he has been looking for, "In some cases it may be necessary for a soul mate to block the thoughts and feelings of their partner. This can be accomplished with practice and concentration. However, please note that the withdrawal may cause severe pain and depression within the partner. Withdrawal should only be done in extreme cases."

Keith shoves the book away from him, "Dammit…" Running his hand through his hair, Keith sits back in his chair, "Basically I'm screwed…" Looking at his watch he is shocked to realize how late it has gotten, "I better get to bed…" He gets up out of the chair and leaves the library.


	4. Chapter 4

Again, many thanks to the ladies that help with my editing and give me more inspiration than I think even they know, Wade Wells, CMS and Xia Cheyenne.

I make no claims to Voltron or any WEP characters.

Enjoy Chapter 4

Mertz

Late that night, Keith lies asleep when a sudden scream rips through his mind. He jumps out of the bed grabbing his blaster he keeps beside his bed as he rises. Keith looks about the room for the attack he thought was happening before he fully wakes up and realizes nothing is there.

Keith looks around the room wondering, _Where did that scream come from?_ when another one rips through his mind. Keith puts a hand to his head in pain as the scream finishes its echoing, followed by feelings of fear and pain.

"Allura!" Keith hits the button to his door and runs down the hallway to the Princess' room and quickly punches in the code to the lock. As the door opens, Keith runs in with the blaster up ready to attack whoever is harming Allura.

As his gaze sweeps the empty room, Keith's eyes settle on the bed and its thrashing occupant. He lowers his blaster as he realizes, _Shit…she is just having a nightmare…_

Keith walks over to the bed and sits down upon the mattress and grabs Allura's shoulders and shakes her, "Allura! Wake up! It's only a dream."

She doesn't respond and tries to push Keith away like he is the one attacking her as her nightmare continues. As she fails to respond to him yelling her name, Keith finally speaks to her mind, _'Allura, wake up! It is only a nightmare. I'm here…'_

Keith relaxes slightly as Allura stops fighting him and she no longer thrashes about. Slowly her eyes open and fill with tears as Keith pulls her close to him, "It's alright Allura, it was only a dream."

Tightening his grip as a sob escapes her, Keith whispers to her mind, _'Are you alright?'_

Before she can answer the door to Allura's room opens and Coran comes running in. Stopping just before the bed, Coran gasps from being out of breath, "What…happened?"

Keith looks at him curiously as Allura tightens her grip and buries her face into Keith's neck, "She only had a nightmare."

Coran lets out a relieved breath and places a hand to his chest to slow his fast beating heart before explaining, "I saw you on the monitors in castle control running down here with your blaster and thought an attack was happening." He pauses a moment to take a few more breaths before asking, "So why were you running with the blaster?"

A deep sigh leaves Keith before he looks up at Coran, "I heard her screaming in my mind…"

Keith watches as Coran fully relaxes and a knowing smile flits across his face before Coran forces a neutral look on his face. Keith rolls his eyes briefly before turning his attention back to Allura. He pats her back lightly and says her name softly, "Allura?"

He feels Allura re-tighten her grip around his neck and Keith lets out another deep sigh. Coran lets out a slight cough then speaks, "Well, since you have the situation under control, I will return to my duties in castle control. Good evening."

Turning his head, Keith watches Coran leave the room before turning his attention once again to Allura, _'What was the dream?'_

He listens to Allura sniffle lightly as she relaxes against him and moves her hands from his neck to around his waist before she replies, _'I don't want to talk about it.'_

A bit irritated by her reply, Keith tries to pull away from her only to have Allura tighten her grip on him and cry out, "Please don't leave me!"

Keith's arms wrap back around her instantly and he holds her close to him, "Allura, I'm here…" The sound of her sobbing once again reaches his ears and Keith moves a hand to her hair to stroke it, "It's alright Allura…I'm here."

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As soon as Allura falls back asleep, Keith pulls away from her and walks quietly out of the room. Tiredly, Keith walks back to his bedroom and sighs as he turns on the light beside his bed upon entering. His eyes are drawn to his bookshelf and Keith slowly rises from the bed and moves across the room.

He pulls a photo album off the topmost shelf and walks back to his bed while opening the cover. Stopping on the first page, tears fill Keith's eyes as he looks down at the handsome couple in front of him. The groom in his black tuxedo; his hair is much shorter and brushed back into place, a luminous smile on his face with his arm wrapped around his bride.

The bride is in a traditional white dress, her ebony hair up with curls dangling around her neck and a bright smile on her face as she looks up into the face of the man she swore to spend the rest of her life with.

Keith wipes at his cheeks as he looks up blankly at the wall across from him, lost in his memories as he remembers,

_Hurrying across the campus to meet with his advisor before his afternoon class, Keith's attention is drawn to a small group of people standing near one of the buildings. He studies them as he walks, three men encircling a beautiful woman. Keith pauses in his step to study her, creamy white skin with long black hair hangs to her waist in curls, delicate looking eyebrows arch over the bluest eyes he has ever seen and lips the color of a rose. _

_Keith completely stops walking and watches as she tries to move away from the men only for them to encircle her again as she holds a stack of books close to her. Not liking the looks of the situation, Keith walks over to the group to ask the lady, "Everything alright here?"_

_Her eyes connect with his and beg him for help as one of the men turns to him, "No problem here Kogane, why don't you mind your own business?"_

_Keith's gaze moves from the lady to William Tyler, gritting his teeth as he thinks, 'Damn this guy is always a jerk.'_

_William walks over to Keith and gives him a shove, "So why don't you run along like a good boy and go kiss the teachers' asses some more."_

_Tearing his gaze away from William, Keith looks back at the lady, "Are they bothering you?"_

_As she nods at him, Keith turns back to William, "Why don't you leave the lady the hell alone?"_

_William turns red in the face as he shoves Keith again, "Get lost and mind your own business Kogane!" He turns around to grab the woman's arm, "Now…where were we before we were so rudely interrupted?" and he pulls the woman close to his chest so that she drops her books as he tries to kiss her. The woman tries to push away from him, "Let go of me!"_

_A tap on his shoulder has William turning his head and Keith's fist connects with his cheek. The woman is quickly released as William shakes his head to clear it then goes after Keith along with his two friends. Keith performs a round house kick and knocks down the two friends then is tackled by William. As they roll around on the ground trying to gain a hold on each other, the woman runs over and manages to kick William in the side, "Leave him alone, you bastard!"_

_William reaches out and grabs the woman's foot knocking her down. Keith takes the opportunity to elbow him in the throat and gets William into a sleeper hold. Keith keeps the pressure on the man's neck until he feels him go limp then throws William away from him."_

_As Keith stands up, he watches the other two slowly stand and furiously asks them, "Want to try for round two?" Both men shake their head and walk around Keith to go help their friend._

_Keith wipes his lip to find a bit of blood by his split lip then walks over to the woman still sitting on the ground. He holds his hand out to her and pulls her up to her feet as he asks, "Are you alright?"_

_The woman nods to him and then turns away to start picking up her books. Keith grabs a few of them as well, handing them to her as he looks deeply into her eyes and quietly asks, "Are you sure you are alright?"_

_The woman nods and a tremulous smile crosses her lips as she asks, "What is your name?"_

_Keith returns the soft smile with one of his own and holds out his hand, "Keith Kogane, I'm a student here at the Academy."_

_She takes his hand and holds it within her own as she continues to look into his eyes, "I'm Andrea Solensky, I work over at the library."_

_Keith looks at her curiously, "I spend a lot of time at the library...I've never seen you there before." _

_Andrea smiles at him, "I only started two days ago. I was picking up some books to return to the library when those guys stopped me."_

_Nodding, Keith looks down at the stack of books, "Need some help?"_

_Keith stops breathing for a moment as a truly beautiful smile crosses her face, "That is a very nice offer Keith Kogane…" As he takes half the books from her, she asks, "How about lunch?"_

_She smiles at the incredulous look on his face as he asks, "You want to have lunch with me?"_

_Laughing quietly, Andrea leans forward to kiss his cheek then adds, "Lunch, maybe dinner sometime and how good are you at dancing?"_

_Keith smiles at her as he follows her to the library thinking, 'This is the one…I'm going to marry her someday.'_

Keith looks back down at the picture in front of him and slowly closes the lid as the tears continue down his cheeks and utters, "God I miss you…" Closing the book, he replaces it on the shelf before going to lie back down on his bed and trying to go to sleep.

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Allura awakens the next morning to find herself alone in the bed once more. She sits up and rubs the sleep from her eyes just as the door opens and Nanny walks into the room, "Good morning Princess. I hope you slept well."

Nodding slightly, she watches as Nanny walks into her bathroom to run water for Allura's bath. Her mind wanders back to the night before and Keith holding her while she cried. A deep sigh escapes her as she relives feeling safe and protected in his arms before she finally drifted off to sleep with his hands stroking her hair.

Slowly, Allura slides off the bed and heads toward her bathroom as she thinks, _Maybe he has finally accepted us…_ and a feeling of happiness fills her.

Allura walks into the control room for practice to the greetings of the others and her eyes search out Keith. She finds him with his back to her at the controls as he converses with the guard posted there. Allura keeps her eyes on him and waits for him to turn around.

A surge of anger goes through Allura when Keith finally turns around, glances at her then turns away from her to address everyone without giving her so much as a greeting, "There is a vicious lightning storm out there. While Black could handle it, I don't want to see how the other lions would react to lightning. Instead of practice, we will have a team meeting in the conference room after breakfast."

After a whoop of joy escapes Hunk, Keith smiles, "I know better than to come between you and your breakfast Hunk, if there isn't practice."

Everyone except Allura laughs and they walk out of the control room. Allura waits by the door and watches as Keith walks past her without even glancing her way. Furious, Allura walks behind Keith and projects out to him angrily, _'Morning Keith…or am I not even worth saying good morning to anymore?'_

She watches from behind as he stiffens slightly but he doesn't answer her and keeps moving while speaking to Lance. When Keith and Lance pause just in front of the doors to the dining room to finish their conversation, Allura walks past them and blasts out, _'Asshole!'_ to Keith.

Lance looks at Keith confused when he notices a flash of anger jumping out his eyes, "Keith, what's up? I didn't think my comments would make you that angry."

Keith lifts his face to meet Lance's eyes a bit startled, "What? Oh…something else just came to mind. Sorry Lance, you were saying?"

Allura fumes all the way through breakfast, stabbing at her food with her fork as Keith continues to ignore her. Lance glances at her as she stabs again at her eggs then glances at Keith raising an eyebrow. Keith shakes his head slightly at Lance then turns back to his food.

Looking up as everyone starts leaving the room to head toward the conference room she finds Keith glaring at her, _'Are you done acting like a child Allura?'_

Narrowing her eyes, Allura slowly rises from her chair, glares down at Keith and holding her head high, walks out of the room. Keith lets out a deep breath and rises from the table to follow the others.

Walking into the conference room, Keith glances at Allura to find her staring straight ahead, oblivious to her surroundings. He begins the meeting, "Pidge, Hunk, what is the status of those parts for Blue lion?"

Allura only half listens to the conversation as it drags into the details of replacing the navigation system. Instead, her mind races, _Why? Why is he treating me like this?_

Her eyes snap to Keith as she hears, _'Pay attention Allura…this is about your lion dammit.'_

Keith isn't looking at her though; his body is turned away from her as he continues discussing the needed repairs for Blue lion with the others. Allura watches him for a moment more and when the discussion ebbs for a moment she asks, _'What did I do to deserve this treatment Keith?'_

More anger fills her as he fails to respond and moves onto other items, starting with the security detail for the week. She pushes harder, _'KEITH! WHY?'_

Lance sits listening to the meeting and his gaze moves back and forth between Allura and Keith. Noticing a slight pause in Keith's dialog, he watches as Keith's eyes briefly move to Allura and flash a warning of anger before he goes back to the security detail. Moving his gaze back to Allura, Lance notes the look of anger and hurt in her eyes and wonders, _What the hell is going on? First, Keith doesn't even talk to her this morning, now I could swear they are about to start one hell of a screaming match and neither one has said a word._

Allura reels back at the look of anger in Keith's eyes and tries once more, _'I want to understand Keith…is that asking for so much?'_

She feels a sudden block from Keith's mind that wavers in and out. A feeling of anger and shock goes through her, _He's trying to block me out of his mind…_

Anger unlike any that she has ever felt before fills Allura and she lashes out at Keith, _'BLOCK THIS!' _and pushes all of her feelings at Keith…anger, resentment and pain.

Lance, Pidge and Hunk are shocked when Keith stops speaking midsentence, stands up and grabs Allura by the arm, pulling her out of her chair then walks her out of the conference room. The rest of the team looks at each other confused. Pidge looks at Lance, "What was that? He goes from talking about guard duty to grabbing the Princess and leaving?"

Lance shakes his head, "I have no idea… I've never seen him do anything like that before. But just before he stood up a look of pain crossed his face. Just like someone had punched him hard in the stomach."

Hunk asks, "Should we go after them?"

Shaking his head, Lance answers, "I don't know what is going on…but I don't want to walk into the middle of that one."

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Keith's fingers dig into Allura's arm as he pulls her down the hall. She tries to pull away, "Keith! You're hurting me!" but he just tightens his grip some more, pulling her into an empty room before he yells at her, "What the hell do you think you are doing Allura!"

Allura glares at him and yells back, "First, you wouldn't speak to me then you tried to block me out of your mind. What was I suppose to do Keith?"

Glaring black eyes meet fiery sapphire blue ones as he growls out, "Honor my request Allura. Leave me the hell alone."

A brief pain fills Allura's chest before she pushes it away to let anger take over, "You don't want to speak to me, fine! You don't have to worry about ever having to say anything else to me, verbal or otherwise...as far as I'm concerned, Captain...we are COMPLETELY DONE!"

She shoves him in the chest to push him out of her way and walks out of the door. Keith watches her go, running his hand through his hair before turning around and punching the wall to release his anger. Once he calms down, he walks out the door to return to the meeting.

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Lance turns to the door as it opens and raises an eyebrow at the look in Allura's eyes as she walks back into the conference room and retakes her seat. He watches her for a moment and glances at the looks on Pidge and Hunk's faces before looking back at Allura and asking, "Everything alright?"

Grimacing inwardly from the icy look he receives from Allura, he listens to her reply, "Everything is fine."

Hunk and Pidge look at each other and cringe before the door opens and Keith walks back in. Lance watches Keith glance at Allura. On his face is an indescribable look of anger before he takes his seat and resumes the meeting.

Allura sits and appears calm while Keith continues with the patrol duties and status of some sensors that hadn't been working in one of the outside quadrants. She briefly feels a bit of his anger, pushes it away from her then blocks Keith completely out of her mind.

Keith pauses between topics when he feels a sudden emptiness in his mind, like something is missing. He turns his gaze briefly to Allura who arches an eyebrow at him then turns back to the next topic.

Lance watches the two of them throughout the rest of the meeting, _Something is going on…and I'm going to find out what it is._

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After the meeting ends, Lance waits till the others leave before he approaches Keith, "So what the hell was that all about?"

Keith doesn't look at him as he gathers up his reports, "What are you talking about?"

Snorting in disgust, Lance sarcastically answers, "How about stopping midsentence to grab Allura and haul her out of the room. When you returned, the looks you were giving each other could have frozen even Lotor's ass."

Keith doesn't answer him at first. Instead he finishes putting his papers together and picks them up to turn to the door, "Stay out of it Lance, it doesn't concern you."

Lance growls at Keith's departing back, "Bullshit Keith, it affects the whole team."

Pausing by the door, Keith glances back at Lance, "It's personal, stay out of it." and walks out.

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After sitting through a tension filled lunch where Allura snapped at anyone who managed to make her angry, Lance walks down the hallway to Allura's office to knock on the door. He enters when bidden to find Allura working on some papers.

She finishes writing something before she looks up. Lance grimaces inwardly when he notes the lack of welcoming and the cold look in her eyes, "Yes?"

Lance saunters in and places a cocky smile on his face as he sits down in the chair in front of Allura's desk, "Oh, I was just wondering what our fearless leader has done to piss you off to the point that you are angry at all of us?"

Allura narrows her eyes at Lance, "I don't have time for this game Lance. I have work to do."

Looking away from him and back to her paperwork she continues, "Why don't you go annoy Keith like you always do and leave me alone."

Having never been spoken to like that from Allura before, Lance's jaw drops but before he can say anything the door to the office opens and Coran walks into the room, "Princess, I need you and Commander Keith at a meeting this afternoon to go over the security detail for the upcoming celebration in the local village."

A sound of impatience escapes Allura as she raises her face from her paper work and snaps at Coran, "You don't need me for that meeting… Mr. "I know it all" Commander Kogane will give you what you need for the security Coran. Now please leave and let me get my work done and take Lance with you."

Coran's jaw drops as Allura looks away, effectively dismissing them both. Lance slowly rises from the chair and follows a thunderstruck Coran out of Allura's office. Once the door closes, Coran turns to Lance, "What was that about?"

Lance shakes his head, "I have no idea. Keith and Allura had some kind of wicked fight this morning and I've been trying to figure out what's going on ever since."

He watches as Coran's face turns red before Coran turns and walks away from him. "Great…another dismissal." In a huff, Lance turns and walks down the hall.

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Keith sits in his office writing on a data-pad in front of him as he makes his reports for Galaxy Garrison. After pressing the send button, Keith sits back and takes a deep breath as the feeling that something is missing once again invades his mind.

Tiredly, he rubs his eyes and searches his mind, wondering what the elusive item is. Frustrated, Keith is about to stand up and leave his office when Coran opens the door and walks in. Keith begins to smile in greeting but stops when he notices the furious look on his face, "Coran, what's wrong?"

Coran stops before his desk and angrily arches a brow at him, "Shouldn't I be asking you that?"

Confused, Keith shakes his head slightly, "I don't know what you are talking about Coran."

A snort leaves Coran as he furiously replies, "Princess Allura Commander. What the hell happened between last night and today that she is biting the heads off of anyone that asks her a question and is calling you Mr. know it all?"

Keith stiffens, becoming angrier and angrier as Coran speaks. His mind probes for Allura, _'Allura! What the hell did you say to Coran?'_

Coran watches as Keith tries to converse with Allura and is intrigued as the anger becomes more apparent with the way the Commander is holding his body and his eyes begin to flash.

'_ALLURA!_' Keith stops and tries to search out her feelings only to receive nothing. Realization hits him and he looks at Coran as his fury climbs to mountainous levels as he spits out, "She is blocking me."

Coran arches a brow at him, "What did you do to deserve it?"

Keith sputters, "What did I do?" then stops when he remembers the last words out of Allura's mouth before she left the room, _You don't have to worry about having to say anything to me, verbal or otherwise..._

His eyes meet Coran's as he says, "Apparently she is angry with me and won't speak to me."

Coran stands up straight and calmly asks, "Why would she be angry with you?"

A snorting sound of disgust leaves Keith as he replies, "I asked her to leave me alone."

Shaking his head, Coran turns around to head for the door, "Well, apparently you are receiving your wish. But now the rest of us must suffer with her bad temper as well." He pauses to turn back to Keith as the door opens, "Fix this Commander." and walks out the door.

Keith picks up the data-pad off his desk and throws it against the wall, watching the shattered pieces land on the ground, "DAMN HER!"

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Keith walks into the dining room for dinner and takes his seat just before dinner starts. Looking across the table, he looks Allura over as she sits quietly in her seat ignoring the conversations going on around her. Keith tries the link, _'Allura.'_

When she doesn't flinch or show any sign that she heard him, Keith tries shoving his anger at her only to feel nothing coming back. _Dammit, how can she block me like that and I couldn't block her out at all?_

He finally speaks in a controlled voice, "Evening Princess."

Allura glances up at him and cool blue eyes briefly lock with his as she calmly replies, "Evening Commander." then looks away, dismissing him.

Fury fills Keith and he turns away to find Lance sitting back in his chair, arms crossed, and a sardonic look in his eyes. Keith ignores him and looks away to find Coran glaring at him then pointedly looking at Allura for a moment before looking back at him.

Keith rolls his eyes and gives a brief nod then turns back to find Lance smiling at him, having caught the whole exchange. Withholding a groan of irritation, Keith turns to his plate as Nanny serves dinner.

Allura manages to keep a smile off of her face. Even though she is blocking Keith's emotions, she almost feels the anger and frustration coming off of him in waves, _Good, let's see how he likes it when I ignore and block him. Maybe he will finally understand how I felt._

As dinner progresses, Keith tries twice more to engage Allura in conversation. In exchange, he receives short answers and is promptly ignored again. Frustration mounts when Pidge asks her a question and she turns a smile on him, actively engaging in a conversation with him.

Soon Lance and Hunk join in and Keith sits back seething while the others talk. His eyes glance over to Coran who seems to be happier that Allura is acting normally with the others and is relaxing back into his chair. _Screw this…I'm just going to eat and get the hell out of here. Allura can play court without me._

After dessert, Allura stands up before Keith can and says good night. Pidge looks over at her, "Not going to join us in the rec room tonight?"

Allura shakes her head, "Not tonight, it's been a long day." Her eyes follow along the table stopping briefly on Keith before looking away, "Good night." and she turns and walks out of the room.

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Allura sits at her vanity as Nanny brushes out her hair, deep in thought. The urge to drop the block and see how Keith is doing is strong, _Dammit…I miss his presence in my mind. It feels like something is missing. But if I drop the block I won't get anywhere. Keith has to understand how it hurts me when he pulls away._

Her attention gets pulled back to Nanny as she feels her pat her head, "There you go Princess. Have a good night."

Allura watches as Nanny turns around and leaves the room. Sighing deeply, Allura rises from her vanity and walks to the table where Keith's birthday gift to her sits. She flips on the switch and looks up as the night sky fills her room.

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Keith paces the confines of his room like a caged lion. Having declined to join the rest of the men in the rec room, Keith had chosen to go to his room rather than ruin everyone else's evening with his bad temper.

Dressed in his pajamas, Keith stops to look out the window at his view of the night sky. The view of the stars has his mind racing back to the birthday party and the look on Allura's face as the lights from his gift filled the room.

Her thoughts as she turned away from him to put the gift away echo in his mind, _'Too bad Lance turned the light back on…I could have stayed in his arms all night.'_


	5. Chapter 5

I make no claims to Voltron or any WEP characters.

Enjoy Chapter 5

Mertz

During practice the next morning, Keith sighs as he struggles to get through the barrier Allura has in place blocking his mind from hers. To keep the others from knowing that anything is wrong, Keith continues to call out directions as the lions change formations midair and attack the targets that were set up for their practice.

Noting the stressed out look in Keith's eyes and the slight change to the tone of his voice, Lance shakes his head as he continues to follow Keith's instruction, _Dammit…something is bothering the shit out of Keith. Pidge and Hunk don't seem to notice, but I've known him too long for him to be able to hide it._ Guessing it has something to do with Allura, since the two of them have acted like polite strangers instead of friends since yesterday, Lance's mind continues to work as he follows the directions given, _I'll force it out of Keith later._

Allura's face remains neutral as Keith appears before her on the video comm. to give her more instructions. She can feel him trying to break through the block and pushes the barrier back even harder until she can no longer feel Keith at all.

A sigh of relief escapes her as Keith calls an end to practice and she turns Blue lion back to the castle.

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After spending the rest of the morning and half the afternoon in her office working, Allura makes her way to the garden, looking for a moment of peace and quiet. She starts for her favorite bench, but changes her mind and walks to the back of the garden instead.

Finding the swing awaiting her, Allura sits on it, pushing off with her feet. She leans back as the swing goes forward then pulls her feet under her as the swing moves back, pushing herself higher and higher into the sky. As the air moves through her hair, a sense of calm comes over her and Allura closes her eyes to enjoy the quiet of the moment.

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Keith looks down from his office window into the garden below to see Allura on the swing, the wind from the movement of the swing causing the skirt of her dress to ruffle up and the sun making her hair shine gold.

A sudden tightness fills Keith's chest and his lower body comes alive, causing Keith to grimace. He doesn't hear the door to his office open, nor the sound of footsteps as Lance slowly walks into the room behind him. Instead, Keith reaches out with his mind, trying to enter Allura's, needing to feel her thoughts and emotions within his again.

'_Allura…' _Silence fills his mind as he pushes as hard as he can against her block, _'DAMMIT ALLURA, PLEASE!'_ Frustration gets the better of Keith and he slams his fist into the glass, shattering the window in front of him.

"SHIT! KEITH, WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?"

Keith turns around to find Lance clearing the little distance between them and grabbing his bleeding hand. Keith looks down on it dispassionately, not really feeling it as Lance runs into the bathroom that adjoins Keith's office and grabs a towel.

Lance rushes back and wraps it around Keith's bleeding knuckles then looks up into his face, "What the hell is going on Keith?"

Shaking his head, Keith pulls away from Lance and walks to the bathroom. Lance follows him and watches as Keith runs water over his hand to get rid of the glass particles before wrapping it in a new towel to stop the bleeding.

Lowering his voice to almost a whisper, Lance asks, "Talk to me Keith, what is going on between you and Allura?"

Keith's dark eyes rise to meet Lance's and he answers, "Nothing is going on." then pushes past Lance to go back to his desk and sits down.

Lance's temper gets the better of him as he raises his voice and sarcastically answers, "Yeah, you just decided to punch out the window in your office for the fun of it." He walks to the window and looks down, "What do you know…Princess Allura down on her swing." Turning around he glares at Keith, "So were you trying to show off how manly you are by breaking the glass to impress her then?"

Keith snorts and wipes his face wearily with his uninjured hand. His eyes finally rise again and a mixture of confusion and fury is in them as he asks, "Have you ever met someone and thought of her as your soul mate Lance?"

Arching a brow, Lance sits down in the chair in front of Keith's desk before he replies, "Can't say that I have." A cocky grin covers his face, "Then again, I'm not looking for one either."

A sound of impatience escapes Keith and Lance sits up straighter in his chair as a brooding look enters Keith's eyes and he continues, "Allura thinks I am her soul mate."

Lance's jaw drops briefly before he recovers and leans forward, "And you have always thought of Andrea as yours." He notes the flash of anger that enters Keith's eyes before he asks, "So how did Allura get that idea Keith?"

Keith takes a deep breath before answering, "You are going to think I'm nuts."

A laughing sound escapes Lance as he quips, "I already know you are, so what's going on?"

Clearing his throat slightly, Keith begins, "I can hear Allura's thoughts and she can hear mine…" He pauses for a moment, "At least I could until Allura blocked me out of her mind."

He looks up and notices Lance's look of disbelief before he continues, "Told you that you would think I'm nuts… In Arusian society, a person knows their soul mate because they can hear their thoughts. The night of Allura's birthday I heard her thoughts and when she blew out the candles of her birthday cake, she heard mine."

A thoughtful look enters Lance's eyes before he looks back up at Keith, "So, yesterday during the meeting…"

Keith interrupts him, "Allura was screaming at me because I wasn't talking to her and was trying to ignore her."

Lance nods then adds, "And when you got up and pulled her out of the chair, it looked like you had been punched in the stomach."

A half laugh, half snort leaves Keith, "Well, I was trying to block Allura out of my mind and she shoved all her anger and frustration at me through the link. It blasted right through the block and I felt like I had been punched in the gut."

At the look of confusion on Lance's face, Keith sighs and adds, "We share our feelings as well apparently."

Lance starts laughing while shaking his head, "Talk about a mind fuck…"

Keith grimaces, "Don't even go there…"

Laughter lights in Lance's eyes and he can't help himself, "You never know Keith…you might have fun with that later…" He stops when he notices the look on Keith's face as his anger returns, "It was joke Keith, jeez." He sits back in his chair and crosses his arms, "So going back to what you said earlier, Allura is blocking you out of her mind now. Is that why you are so pissed off?"

Keith nods slightly and Lance gives a snort of irritation, "If you didn't want it, why are you so mad that she is blocking you?"

Lance watches as Keith runs his hand through his hair in agitation before he answers, "I don't know…it's like part of my mind is missing now. I can't explain it, but it is driving me crazy."

Shaking his head at Keith, Lance stands up, "I know how stubborn you are Keith and I know how you still feel about Andrea." He walks around the desk, "I also know that, stubborn ass that you are, you will fight this tooth and nail." Lance clamps a hand down on Keith's shoulder, "Think about it though Keith, before you throw it away. This could be your second chance at happiness."

Noting the look of anger that entered Keith's eyes, Lance sighs, "But you always have been a stubborn ass…" Lance turns and walks out of the office, leaving Keith to sit and brood.

As the door to his office closes, Keith pushes himself up away from his desk to walk back to his broken window. He looks down to see Allura still on her swing, not having noticed the sound of Keith breaking the window when he punched it.

He watches her for a moment more and tries the link one more time. Frustrated beyond measure, Keith swears profusely as he turns around, drops the bloody towel from his other hand onto the floor and walks out the door.

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Allura pushes back with the swing again and a smile crosses her face as the wind pulls through her hair, lightly lifting it off the nape of her neck and her mind drifts, _Lance gave me a wonderful gift. Who would have thought such a simple thing could be so pleasurable._

The abrupt jerking of the swing to a stop has Allura crying out slightly as she opens her eyes and turns her head back to see what happened. Her eyes light upon an obviously furious Keith as he holds the ropes of the swing with both hands, stopping her from moving. His jaw looks hard as granite as he furiously says, "Drop the block Allura."

Allura turns back around on the swing and rises from it before turning back around to face Keith again, "No."

She watches as Keith's face turns red with his anger before he yells at her, "Dammit Allura, enough of this childish crap…drop the damn block!"

Allura arches a brow at him as she crosses her arms, "Childish? Childish! You didn't seem to think it was childish when you wouldn't speak to me and you tried to block me out of your mind!" She steps toward him, her eyes spitting sapphire sparks at him, the level of her voice rising as she yells back at him, "Yet when I do it back to you, I'm being childish? Go to hell Keith!"

She quickly turns around to leave the garden and is stopped when Keith grabs her upper arm to pull her back around to him, "Dammit Allura, I'm serious!"

Pulling her arm out of his grasp, Allura pulls back her arm and slaps Keith full across the cheek before speaking to him furiously, "Don't you ever grab me like that again!"

Keith puts his uninjured hand to his stinging cheek as Allura turns around and walks quickly out of the garden. Keith moves back to the swing and sits down on it, his mind racing while trying to calm his anger.

Soon his fury gets the better of him, "Dammit…she _will_ drop that block." Keith gets up and walks out of the garden.

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Keith walks down the hallway toward Allura's room and slows his step as the door opens and Nanny walks out. She passes him and nods in greeting, "Commander." before continuing down the hall. His anger getting the better of him, Keith punches in the code to Allura's room and walks in.

Stopping in the middle, he pauses, _Where the hell is she?_

A sound from the bathroom has Keith walking across the room and pressing the button before he thinks better of it. As the door opens, Keith walks in and listens to Allura squeal, "KEITH!"

Keith stops in the middle of the bathroom and looks down on the bubble filled tub Allura is sitting in, most of her hair up in a loose bun on top of her head. Wet tendrils lie along her neck but Keith barely notices as he yells, "I've had enough of this Allura! Drop that damn block!"

Allura pulls the bubbles around her to make sure she is covered and yells at him, "Get out!" Grabbing her soap bar off the tray, Allura throws it at him.

Keith catches the bar in his hands. Glancing down at it briefly, he turns to set it on the counter and misses the wet wash cloth that hits him in the face. Keith pulls it off of his face as his fury climbs even higher. Throwing it down on the floor, Keith glares back at Allura who is turning around in her tub, sloshing water out the sides to find more things to throw at him.

Two quick steps and Keith is bending over the tub, grabbing Allura's upper arms to stop her, "Dammit Allura, stop it!"

Allura turns her face back to Keith and notices his eyes drifting down. She looks down, horrified to find her nipples barely covered by the bubbles. Flushing, she looks back up to find a different look in Keith's eyes as they rise once more to meet hers.

His tone deepens as he whispers her name, "Allura…"

The sound of his voice has her melting inside as she feels his hold on her arms loosening and she reaches up with a soapy hand, "Keith…"

Realization comes to Keith and he pulls back from her quickly to avoid her hand. Slipping on the water on the floor, Keith falls backward and hits his head on the edge of the sink behind him and blacks out to the sound of Allura screaming his name.

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'_Keith…please love, wake up!'_ Keith moans and forces his eyes open as he feels a shaking hand caress his cheek. After blinking several times to clear his vision, Keith looks up to see Allura's concerned eyes looking down on him.

A relieved smile covers her face as she runs her hand along his jaw, _'Thank God, I was about to call medical emergency.'_

Another groan escapes Keith as he reaches up with his hand to the painful spot on the back of his head, _'What happened?'_

He feels her fingers in his hair as she pushes it off his forehead, _'You slipped on the water on the floor and hit the back of your head. Are you feeling alright? Should I get Dr. Gorma?'_

"No…" Keith groans out as he pulls himself up out of Allura's arms. He glances back to find they are both on the floor of the bathroom, Allura had stopped long enough to pull on a thin bathrobe which is clinging to her wet body. Strands of wet blond hair cling to different parts of her damp neck and chest.

He feels his body begin to respond as his eyes stop on her chest to examine her distended nipples. Allura feels a flush creeping up her neck as Keith's eyes continue to study her chest through the bathrobe, "Keith…"

Dark eyes rise to meet hers and Allura gasps as Keith's desire and longing fill her mind. The smooth timber of his voice enters next, _'You dropped the block…'_

She studies his eyes closely, _'Yes…'_

Keith reaches up with his hand to push a strand of hair away from her face, _'I missed you… Felt like part of me was missing.'_

A tremulous smile crosses Allura's lips, _'I missed you too…but it was the only way to make you understand.'_

Dropping his hand back to his side, Keith looks away from Allura, "I know." He pushes himself up and Allura rises with him, grabbing onto his arm to steady him as they both get to their feet. She reaches up with her hand to touch his cheek, "Are you going to be alright?"

Keith nods then grimaces, "As long as I don't move my head much…"

A small laugh escapes Allura, _'Sure you don't want me to block you again…so you don't have me talking to you while your head aches?'_

A fierce look enters Keith's eyes, "Don't you dare…" Another groan escapes him, _'Damn…I'm getting one hell of a headache now.'_

She smiles at him, "Serves you right for walking into my bathroom while I was in the tub."

At the mention of the tub, Keith's eyes glaze over slightly as he looks back down at Allura, "I enjoyed the view…"

Flushing scarlet, Allura turns away from him, "You better get out of here before Nanny comes back and catches you."

Keith takes a step closer to her and pulls her back against his chest, _'I'm sorry Allura…_' He rests his chin on her shoulder and breathes in her sweet scent. Desire fills Allura as his arm comes around her, wrapping around her waist to hold her close to him.

She feels a light kiss by her neck then is released as he walks to the door. Slightly confused she reaches out to him, _'Keith?'_

Keith turns back around and their eyes meet, _'Give me some time Allura. I need to think about this, all of this.'_

At her slight nod, Keith turns away and leaves the room. Disappointed, but feeling more hopeful, Allura turns back to clean up the bathroom before Nanny returns.

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Allura walks into the dining room for dinner and looks around before her eyes meet Lance's. She asks, "Where's Keith?" while taking her seat at the table.

Lance smiles sardonically at her, "MedTech."

Allura almost stands up again as her face expresses her shock, "WHAT?"

Hunk answers before Lance can, "Lance and I came across him before dinner in the hallway. Keith didn't look good and he was holding a hand to the back of his head. He said something about falling in his bathroom and hitting his head. Lance and I dragged him to MedTech. Dr. Gorma is forcing him to spend the night."

She looks away from Hunk back to Lance, fear showing in her eyes. Lance decides to take pity on her, "He's alright Allura. Dr. Gorma just wants to make sure he doesn't have a concussion. Not to mention Keith needed a couple of stitches for his hand."

Allura's eyebrows go up, "Stitches in his hand? Why?"

Lance turns slightly red, "Damn…forgot you didn't know. Keith had punched out his office window this afternoon after losing his temper. No serious damage to his hand… Don't worry Allura, Keith will be fine. You can continue your fight with him tomorrow."

This time it is Allura who turns red, "Lance…" Lance smiles wolfishly at her, "Hey, it has been a long time since I've seen any woman manage to make Keith that mad. Don't let a few minor injuries stop you from berating him some more."

Allura shakes her head at Lance and turns her gaze to her plate. Inside her mind though, Allura is trying to feel Keith, _'Keith…are you alright?'_

His frustration fills her before she hears his voice, _'I'm fine…Dr. Gorma is just being overly cautious.' _

She lets out a slight sigh before thinking quietly, _'I didn't know you cut your hand…'_

She hears a quiet self depreciating laugh in her mind, _'You were too busy throwing things at me…'_

Allura blushes at the table and then looks up to find Lance observing her with an amused look on his face. She watches him glance down to find Pidge and Hunk engaged in their own conversation before he turns back to her to ask, "So what did our fearless leader say to make you blush?"

Arching a brow, Allura asks, "Keith isn't here, how can I be conversing with him?"

A devilish smile crosses Lance's face, "I know about the link…"

Allura flushes even more before looking away, "Nothing…"

She listens to Lance snort and looks back up into his face to find his eyes dancing with amusement before he says, "I'll just use my imagination then…"

Allura rolls her eyes at him then turns to her dinner as Nanny serves.

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After dinner Allura walks down the hall toward MedTech. She enters and walks up to the nurse in charge, "Commander Kogane's room?"

She follows the nurse down a hallway and walks into Keith's room to find him arguing with Dr. Gorma, "I'm fine doctor. There is no reason for me to spend the night in here."

Dr. Gorma's face turns red with his anger, "Except for the fact that you have a minor concussion and I want you observed overnight to make sure there is nothing more seriously wrong with you."

Keith opens his mouth to argue again only to have Dr. Gorma cut him off, "You will stay in that bed Commander or I will drug you and strap you down into it for the night!"

Allura fights to keep the smile off her face as Dr. Gorma glares at Keith once more before turning to walk toward the door. He pauses for a moment, finally realizing she is there and mutters, "Princess…" before walking by her and leaving the room.

Her gaze moves over to Keith who has his head shoved back into his pillow with his eyes closed and approaches him, _'Keith?'_

His eyes open and he lifts his head without greeting her, to look her way. She pauses as she nears the bed, "Are you alright?"

Black eyes filled with frustration lock onto hers as his tone becomes a bit sarcastic, "I'm fine…although I told you this before."

As Allura flinches as if struck, Keith lets out a deep sigh, "Sorry Allura, I'm just not very good company right now."

Allura nods and moves to sit in the chair beside Keith. She looks over his bandaged hand before looking back into his eyes, "How did you cut your hand?"

Keith doesn't answer at first. She watches the muscles in his throat work before he speaks in a low, slightly furious voice, "A certain blond was blocking me and my temper got the better of me. So I punched out my office window."

A ghost of a smile lifts Allura's lips as she arches her eyebrow at him, "Anybody I know?"

She almost laughs when he snorts, "I don't know…she runs around the castle, pilots Blue lion and likes to push my buttons." His dark eyes latch onto hers as he arches a brow back at her, "Some people call her Princess Allura."

Allura taps her chin as if in deep thought before looking back at Keith, "Can't say I know her. She sounds like a real pain though." As Keith fights to keep a smile off of his face, Allura moves closer and sits beside him on the bed, "Perhaps you should try charming her…"

A full smile finally does reach Keith's eyes as he shakes his head at her. He grabs her and pulls her across his legs and whispers, "Maybe I should try spanking her once…"

Allura's eyes dance with laughter before she answers him, "Only her husband would be allowed to do that…want the job?"

The smile falls off of Keith's face and Allura almost swears as he pulls back away from her before speaking to her again in a low lifeless tone, "I'm tired now Princess. If you would leave me so I can go to sleep, I would appreciate it."

She watches as Keith turns away from her and closes his eyes as his head once again pushes into the pillow. Rising slowly, Allura studies him for a moment longer before turning around and leaving the room.


	6. Chapter 6

I make no claims to Voltron or any WEP characters.

Enjoy Chapter 6

Mertz

Allura wanders out to the garden to find her swing in the back. She sits down in it but does nothing more as her eyes travel to the flowers ahead of her as she replays the conversation she had with Keith in her mind, wishing she hadn't brought up marriage. They had been having a good time teasing each other prior to that.

She doesn't hear the footsteps on the walkway and only looks up when Lance asks, "Penny for your thoughts?"

Silence fills the air as Lance sits on the ground in front of the swing and Allura studies him for a moment before looking away. Lance gets himself settled before reaching forward to tap her knee, "Come on Allura, I know about the link and Keith explained the soul mates thing. What's bothering you?"

A tear finally escapes Allura's eye and runs down her cheek before she asks, "Did you know Keith's wife?"

Lance looks away for a moment before he clears his throat and sits back again, "Yes…I was best man at his wedding."

Allura looks away shocked for a moment before she looks back at Lance to continue, "How did she die?"

Rubbing the back of his neck, Lance blanches slightly before replying, "Shouldn't you ask Keith about this?"

Shaking her head, Allura replies, "All he said was that she was murdered, nothing else and believe me when I say, he doesn't want to talk to me about her."

Lance lets out a deep sigh before looking back at Allura. In his mind he pictures Andrea and remembers how happy and carefree Keith seemed with her before saying, "It happened about six months before we were deployed here." He pauses a moment to collect his thoughts, "I think they had been married about a year and Andrea always did the grocery shopping. Well this time, Keith had stopped at the grocery store before picking her up from work only to realize that he had forgotten something, milk I think."

Allura nods at him as Lance takes a deep breath to continue, "So they stopped at this minimart a block from their apartment. Keith was going to go get it but Andrea had jumped out of the car before he could." Lance stops for a moment and runs his hand through his hair before looking at Allura with watery looking eyes, "The place was being robbed when Andrea walked into it, the bell on the door scared the robber so he turned and fired his gun at Andrea, hitting her in the head. She died instantly."

Tears run out of Allura's eyes as Lance swallows several times to get his own emotions back under control before he finishes, "Keith blamed himself for it of course…if only he would have remembered the damn milk at the store…if only he would have gotten out of the car and insisted Andrea stay in it." His eyes meet Allura's, "You know how he is."

Allura nods and looks away before speaking quietly, "Thank you for telling me."

Lance nods before asking, "So what are you going to do with the information?"

A deep sigh leaves Allura before she stands up to move away from the swing, "What can I do? I can't fight a ghost Lance."

Lance stands as well and takes Allura's hand within his to get her to look at him, "I've known Keith for a lot of years Allura. I know he loved Andrea deeply…" Allura tries to look away only to have Lance grab her chin to force her to look at him again, "I _also_ know he cares deeply for you. Probably more than he is even willing to admit to himself. It drove him crazy when you wouldn't speak to him Allura. The only other person who could get under his skin like that was Andrea."

Allura nods and begins to pull away with Lance speaking to her as she departs, "Give him time Allura. Keith is a stubborn ass about a lot of things, but he will work his way to you."

Allura glances back at Lance once more before turning away and walking sadly out of the garden. Lance takes a deep breath as he watches her walk back into the castle, swearing slightly before thinking, _That stubborn ass better not take too long…she might not wait forever for him._ Letting out a deep breath, Lance walks back into the castle while deciding to have a conversation with his best friend.

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Walking into MedTech, Lance makes his way into Keith's room to find him reading a book. Keith looks up at him and puts a book marker into the book before closing it as he looks at Lance, "What's up?"

Lance sits down in the chair beside the bed and studies Keith for a moment before asking, "So what are you going to do about Allura?"

Keith lets out a deep sigh and sits back on the bed more before answering, "I don't know."

Arching a brow at him, Lance crosses his arms and legs, "Well, you should either commit to her or let her go and find happiness with some other lucky slob."

The thought of Allura being with another man fills Keith with an indescribable anger and it shows on his face. Lance sits forward in his chair and looks at Keith with amazement, "My God…you are an ass! You don't want her, but you don't want anyone else to have her either…"

Keith's angry eyes fall on Lance, "I didn't say I didn't want her."

Lance snorts as he sits back in his chair and re-crosses his arms, "Yeah right…you've been fighting with her for the last two days for no reason." As Keith becomes even more furious, Lance stands up to leave, "I mean it Keith, either commit to her or cut her loose. Don't leave her dangling while you try to figure out what you want. She deserves better treatment than that."

Keith grits his teeth while watching Lance walk out of the room. As the door closes, the anger drains away and leaves confusion in its place as Keith pushes his head back into his pillows and searches out Allura in his mind.

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Allura lies in her bed looking up at the starry night in her room, thanks to Keith's birthday gift, when she feels his presence in her mind, _'Keith? What's wrong?'_

She senses his confusion and sadness before hearing his melancholy voice, _'Just wanted to make sure you were alright.'_

Allura sits up in bed and flips off the star globe before turning on her lamp, _'I'm fine Keith, but are you?'_

He doesn't respond to her for a while and just as she is about to stand and grab her bathrobe to walk to MedTech, his voice once again fills her mind, _'I'm hurting you…aren't I?'_

Feeling slightly confused, Allura asks, _'What do you mean Keith?'_

She feels more of his confusion and sadness before he speaks again, _'Because I don't know what I want… I'm hurting you.'_ Allura doesn't answer at first and her own sadness fills her before she replies, _'A little…but only because I want to be with you Keith. I want to love you and you won't let me.'_

Allura feels his frustration coming through and she sighs, _'I can wait Keith…I care enough for you to wait while you work through this.'_

His voice becomes slightly quieter when he responds, _'That isn't fair to you.'_

A small smile crosses her lips as she replies, _'Some things are worth waiting for…'_

She hears Keith's quiet response, _'Yes they are…'_

Allura sits back on her bed, curls back up under the covers and switches off the light again throwing the room into darkness. She searches out and feels Keith calming down some as his frustration leaving him, and she sighs out, _'Good night Keith…'_ then closes her eyes.

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Back in MedTech, Keith lets out a deep sigh as Allura's calmness pours out to him. He reaches over to switch off the lamp beside him before answering her once more, _'Good night Allura.'_ and closes his eyes to go to sleep.

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Allura awakens the next morning and sighs as she stares at the ceiling of her room. Turning her head, she looks at her clock to find that normally she would have to be up for practice by now. But with Keith in MedTech, they won't have practice until Dr. Gorma releases him.

Sighing, Allura throws back the covers and rises to walk into her bathroom as she thinks, _I need to clear my head…a flight in Blue should help._

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Lance strolls into MedTech and Keith's room in time to hear Keith growl at Dr. Gorma, "I'm fine doctor…no headaches, no blurry vision, now please release me!"

He almost laughs at the disgruntled look on Dr. Gorma's face as Keith continues to glare at him. Lance watches as Dr. Gorma writes something on his data-pad before responding, "Very well, but you will report back to me Commander if you experience any light headedness or nausea."

Keith grits his teeth while nodding at the doctor before getting off the exam table and walking over to Lance who smiles at him while saying, "I would say good morning, but don't want my head bit off."

Lance does laugh as Keith snorts at him, "Let's get out of here."

Following Keith out of MedTech, Lance is silent as they walk down the hall until Keith turns his face to him, "Everyone ready for practice?"

Letting out a sigh, Lance responds, "Hunk and Pidge are waiting in control."

Keith stops in the middle of the hall as a feeling of unease fills him, "Where's Princess?"

Lance stops a step ahead and turns back to Keith, "Out in Blue already. She wanted "some time to think" as she put it."

His feeling of unease increasing, Keith starts walking again, much faster, to control as he reaches out to Allura through their link, _'Allura, where are you?'_

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Allura lets out a relieved sigh as she flips Blue in the air and then speeds up to race along the sky as the sun fully rises in the sky. Feeling peaceful and content for the first time in a long time, Allura takes a deep breath and pushes Blue up above the clouds to view the sky above.

The deep blue color shines off of Allura's eyes before she dips Blue back below the clouds again and turns to fly back toward the castle. _What a wonderful morning…I'm glad I came out!_ A smile crosses her face until Keith's sudden anxiety fills her before she hears his voice, _'Allura, where are you?'_

The smile leaves her as she answers, _'I'm up in Blue, heading toward the castle. What's wrong?'_

Before Keith can answer her, Allura cries out as Blue lion jerks from a missile hit. She jerks the lion around to face the Doom ships coming at her and she reaches out to Keith, _'I'm under attack! Lotor!'_

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Keith shouts, "NO!" and starts running for castle control, Lance quickly following him, yelling, "What the hell is going on?" Keith runs into castle control yelling, "Raise the tube! Lotor is attacking Allura!"

Coran quickly hits the button to raise the dais and Keith doesn't even slow down as he runs for Chute number one and Black lion.

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Allura fires proton missiles at the oncoming ships and then cries out, "Ion knife!" as she runs Blue lion through another one. An ominous laugh comes over her comm. unit as Lotor appears before her, "My love…you are finally alone. Land now and come to me quietly or be shot down and taken forcefully. The choice is yours."

Taking a deep breath, Allura cries out, "NEVER!" and turns Blue lion to fire on Lotor's command fighter. But Lotor fires first and Allura pulls hard on the controls, putting Blue lion into a dive to avoid the missiles. As she tries to pull back up the navigation controls start to shake and won't respond. Starting to panic Allura cries out, "Come on Blue, pull up!"

Looking at her monitors, she watches as Lotor fires more missiles at her as she continues to pull on the controls. Allura starts screaming as Blue lion is struck and she loses control while heading for the hard ground of Arus.

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Keith pushes Black lion as fast as he can as he reaches out to Allura, _'Hold on sweetheart! I'm on my way!'_ The lack of response from Allura fills Keith with a dread he can't describe as he yells out to the men, "Hurry up dammit, she's in trouble!"

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Lotor laughs victoriously as he steps out of Blue lion with an unconscious Allura in his arms, "At last…you are mine." The sound of roaring lions approaching has Lotor hurrying to his craft. He quickly straps Allura into the seat behind his, tying her hands down before getting back into the pilot's seat and taking off.

As he gets into the air, Lotor spots the lions coming at him and he radios into the fleet, "Get those Doom ships after those lions. Keep them busy until I have secured the princess."

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Keith's heart is in his throat as he watches Lotor's ship take off from a grounded Blue lion while they are still quite a ways away. He screams, "NO!" as several Doom ships fly at them. Lance yells at him, "Keith, get your mind in the game or we will all go down!"

Taking a deep breath to calm himself, Keith calls out, "Proton missiles!" and starts firing on the ships while trying to reach out to Allura. The silence and the lack of emotions returning to him have Keith swearing mentally as he calls out, "Lotor has Allura and she is unconscious! We need to get Lotor's ship!"

Lance swears as he takes out another Doom ship before asking, "How in the hell are we supposed to do that with all these ships on us?"

Pidge calls out as well after taking out two more ships, "They just keep coming Cap…there is no way we can handle them all and save the Princess."

Keith fires more missiles at the oncoming ships before yelling, "DAMMIT!" He continues to take out ships as he watches Lotor's ship begin to leave Arus airspace. Swearing profusely he calls out, "I'm going after him, I'll evade or destroy ships until I get at him."

Hunk yells out, "NO CAP! You can't go it alone!"

Before Keith can argue further, Lance responds, "He isn't going alone. I'm going with him, Hunk, Pidge, keep these Doom jerks off our backs as much as possible then join us when you can." When both have acknowledged, Lance continues, "Lead on Cap…I've got your back."

Keith takes a deep breath and pushes forward, going through Doom ships, evading or destroying them as he heads for space with Lance right behind him.

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Lotor docks in one of the three command ships that are standing by outside of Arus' airspace and gets out of his craft. He calls out to a nearby robot, "Order the commander to take off, each ship heads into a different direction as planned."

The robot responds, "Yes sire." and walks away to follow the orders given.

Turning back to his ship, Lotor undoes the restraints on the princess and pulls her out of the ship. Carrying her in his arms, Lotor starts for his room on the ship, his mind jumping to the pleasures he has planned for the trip to the Doom controlled planet of Tyrus.

As he nears his room, Lotor listens to Allura's soft moan, "Good, she is starting to come to." He looks down on her still closed eyes, "It won't be any fun if she isn't awake."

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Keith and Lance finish fighting their way out to space and Lance starts swearing when he views the three ships in front of them, "How the hell are we supposed to know which one she's on?" Keith studies the crafts ahead of them then listens to Lance swear some more, "They are starting to leave Keith, in different directions! How do we find her?"

Keith shuts out Lance's voice and concentrates hard on Allura. He senses her starting to wake up and his eyes move to the ship in the middle of the group and his eyes harden, "The middle ship Lance, we attack the launch bays and get in that way."

Lance starts to question, "How the hell do you know…?" then yells, "Wait for me!" as he follows Keith as the lions head for the ship.


	7. Chapter 7

I make no claims to Voltron or any WEP characters.

Enjoy Chapter 7

Mertz

Robots are running around the launch bay trying to get to their ships as the speaker overhead calls out, "EVERYONE TO THEIR STATIONS…LIONS APPROACHING!"

An explosion rocks the landing bay area and the robots scatter trying to get away from the claws of the Black lion that had flown into the opening the explosion had created in the side of the ship. Soon the robots are yelling and trying to run away from the Red lion that had flown in after the Black and the river of fire that flies out of the lion's mouth to melt away the robots in front of it.

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Lance laughs sadistically as he watches the robots melt in front of him, "That should take care of those things…"

"Knock it off Lance!" Keith yells at him, "We need to get out of these lions and find Allura."

Lance stops laughing and finishes taking out the robots in the landing bay as Keith lands Black lion near one of the hallways.

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Allura moans softly as she feels her body being laid down on a soft surface. The feeling of lips upon hers has her opening her eyes to the image of Lotor's yellow eyes within an inch of hers. She opens her mouth to scream, but no sound issues forth though as Lotor pushes his tongue into her mouth, kissing her savagely.

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Keith jumps down from Black lion and opens fire on the two remaining robots coming at him. As they fall, he watches Lance land Red lion next to Black. Jumping down from his lion, he asks, "How are we going to find her? This ship is huge!"

Closing his eyes, Keith doesn't answer Lance for a moment as he focuses on Allura. He senses she is awake as her sudden fear reaches him. Turning toward the hall in front of him, Keith pauses a moment before turning toward the right, Lance following behind him.

Running down the hallway, the sound of Allura's scream reverberates through Keith's mind. He stumbles and only keeps from falling as Lance grabs him, "What the hell Keith?"

Keith doesn't respond, instead he pulls away from Lance and continues to run as Allura calls out to him, _'Keith! Help me! Please help me!'_

Her fear and pain fills him and he tries to project a sense of calm to her as he replies, _'I'm on my way Allura, hold on!'_

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Keith's last words echo through Allura's mind as she continues to try to fight off Lotor. She manages a lucky blow and hits him in the jaw. Yellow eyes glare at her as Lotor pauses for a moment to wipe the blood from his lips before a feral smile crosses them, "Go ahead and fight Allura, scream if you wish…it only heightens my pleasure…"

Panic fills her eyes as Lotor grabs her hands within one of his, then the front of her uniform with the other hand and rips it down her body. Allura cries out and calls to Keith once more, _'KEITH! HE'S GOING TO RAPE ME! OH GOD, HELP ME!'_

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Keith pauses in his step once more as Allura's scream goes through his head along with her panic. Keith regains his footing as Lance catches up with him and Keith calls out to Allura, _'Shut down Allura. Go within your mind and hide yourself. Lotor is not there, he can't hurt you. Stay there until I come for you Allura. I will come for you.'_

He continues his run down the hallway, Lance fast on his heels.

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A final tear escapes Allura's eye before she relaxes her body and pulls in on herself. Her eyes go blank and stare up at the ceiling above her as she hides within her mind. Lotor pauses in his assault when he notices Allura's lack of response.

"Allura…" Lotor releases her hands and pauses, expecting her to use the opportunity to fight him again. When she doesn't move and only blinks, Lotor becomes enraged, screaming, "ALLURA!" and slaps her hard across the face.

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Turning down another hallway, Keith keeps running for several feet, passing door after door. Lance follows closely thinking, _I don't know how the hell Keith knows where he is going…but I sure hope to God he is right._

When Keith stops suddenly and turns around to look at a door he had just passed, Lance asks, "What? Did you hear something?"

Keith holds up his hand to quiet Lance and concentrates on the feeling he just had. Concentrating as hard as he can as Keith nears the door in front of him; he feels a vibration within himself. He hits the button to open the door and curses, "This is it, it's locked from the inside!"

Lance steps in front of Keith, "Excuse me…I always keep a bit of this on me…" He places a bit of putty type substance on the door then takes a device from his belt to attach to it. He looks over at Keith as he steps to the side away from the door, "I would back up if I were you…"

Keith jumps to the side of the door frame as Lance pushes a button on his belt.

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As the blood trickles down her chin, Allura's continued lack of response further enrages Lotor. He screams her name again, "**ALLURA!**" then yanks her up out of the bed hard by her shoulders and shakes her as he yells, "**YOU WILL NOT RUIN THIS FOR ME! THIS IS MY DAY, MY VICTORY AND I WILL HAVE MY VICTORY!**"

Lotor glares down at her as her head lolls back and throws her down in the bed in disgust just as the door to the room blows open. Lotor flies back into the nearby wall as the remains of the door fall out of the air around him.

As he stands back up, Lotor glares at the figures that enter the room through the blown out door. Quickly grabbing onto the sword attached to his belt, Lotor steps toward the figures, ready to fight.

Keith quickly glances at the bed, noticing Allura's prone figure before his eyes glaze over with anger and he pulls his own sword off his belt. He speaks to Lance without turning, "Get Allura out of here." and then walks toward Lotor.

As he gets near Lotor, a scream of rage and fury escapes Keith as he rushes and brings the sword down hard trying to cut Lotor in half. Lotor quickly raises his sword to parry the blow and tries to strike his own blow to Keith.

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As the sounds of the battle fill his ears, Lance quickly runs to the bed and grimaces, grabbing something to wrap Allura in as he notices her ripped uniform and resulting nudity. Cursing out Lotor, Lance gently wipes the blood off of Allura's chin then lightly slaps her cheek, "Wake up Allura…we need to get out of here!"

Swearing when she doesn't respond, Lance fully looks into her face and for the first time, notices the vacant expression in her eyes. Feeling slightly panicky, Lance raises his voice, "ALLURA!"

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Keith parries Lotor's continuing thrusts of the sword and brings his up to try to slice Lotor's arm, but is blocked once again. Swearing mentally, Keith kicks out, trying to knock Lotor off his feet. Lotor jumps to avoid the kick and tries his own kick while thrusting the sword.

Managing to block the sword thrust, Keith lets out a cry of pain when Lotor's heel makes contact with his chest, knocking him backward into the wall. Lance's yell has Keith turning his head and the mistake costs him.

Keith screams in pain as Lotor's sword goes through his right shoulder, forcing him to drop his own sword. Lotor starts laughing as he pulls a blade from his boot and brings it close to Keith's throat as he triumphantly says, "At last…I will be rid of you and Voltron!"

Before Lotor can push the blade into Keith's throat, he ends up screaming as Lance yells, "I don't think so!" and fires his blaster, hitting Lotor in the shoulder.

Lotor holds his shoulder as he turns to glare at Lance. Lance smiles evilly as he raises his gun, "Goodbye asshole…" Before he can fire, Lotor turns and runs toward the wall next to Keith and slams his hand on a button.

As the wall turns with Lotor on it, Lance fires. But the laser blasts only hit the newly blank wall where Lotor once stood. As Lance curses, Keith pulls the sword out of his shoulder, screaming in pain as he does so.

Lance pulls Allura up over his shoulder and turns to find Keith holding his bloody shoulder, "Are you going to make it Keith?"

Taking several deep breaths, Keith utters, "Yes…but we need to get out of here."

Nodding, Lance asks, "Can you hold a blaster?"

Keith nods as Lance hands him a blaster then turns to run out of the room. Keith stumbles a bit then follows, his blood flowing down his back and chest from his shoulder wound.

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As they reach the lions, Lance pauses to turn back to Keith. Grimacing at the paleness of Keith's face, Lance swears, "Are you going to make it back to Arus?"

Keith nods, "I don't have a choice. Get into the lions…you take Allura."

Lance grimaces again as Keith turns away to get into Black, _He's going to have a hard time making it the way he is losing blood…he wouldn't let me take Allura otherwise._

Deciding not to waste any more time Lance turns and starts for Red lion's cockpit.

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Keith reaches for the first aid kit as he enters Black lion and grabs out the Medi-Tape. Groaning as he reaches up and rips his uniform away from his shoulder, Keith applies the tape to the wound on both sides, hoping it will slow the blood loss until he can get to MedTech.

Grasping the controls with his left hand, Keith gets the lion to its feet and then follows Lance out of the hole they made earlier in the landing bay.

He listens to Lance swear over the comm. unit before saying, "Doom ships heading at us Keith, can you handle it?"

Keith takes a deep breath as his vision blurs for a moment. He shakes his head to clear it before answering furiously, "Would you stop asking me that! Let's just get through them as fast as we can."

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Lance glances back at Allura. Strapped into the side seat, her head lolls forward as she continues not to respond. Taking a deep breath, Lance turns back to face the monitors and yells, "Ion knife!"

As the blade forms between Red lion's teeth, Lance calls out on the comm., "Hunk, Pidge! Where the hell are you? We could use some help up here!"

Pidge's voice sounds like heaven to him as he responds, "We just finished taking out the rest of the ships and are heading to you now!"

Lance swears as he goes through a ship, "Hurry the hell up! Keith is flying injured and we are seriously outnumbered up here!"

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Keith grimaces from the pain in his shoulder as he calls out, "Proton missiles!" and proceeds to fire on the ships in front of him. He cries out as the lion is hit by a missile and feels the lion jerk. The movement of the lion reverberates through his injured shoulder and Keith grits his teeth as he begins to feel dizzy.

The ships in front of him multiply as his vision blurs, Keith calls out, "I'm going to need help Lance…I don't think I'm going to make it."

He hears Lance swear across his comm. unit, "Hold on Keith, Hunk and Pidge are on their way!"

Keith draws in a deep breath and feels like he can't get in enough air. He continues to fire at the ships in front of him, praying he will hit them as he sees dark spots in front of his eyes, "I'm going to black out Lance…"

Barely able to keep his eyes open, Keith hears Hunk's voice, "We are here Cap…I will fly you in!"

A smile flits across Keith's face before his head drops and he loses consciousness.

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Hunk swears as he watches Black lion begin to drop. Positioning Yellow lion underneath, Hunk lets Black lion land on the back of his lion before hearing Lance's voice, "Great work Hunk, turn around and get him back to Arus! Pidge and I will cover you!"

Turning the lion toward nearby Arus, Hunk says a little prayer to himself, "Be alright Cap…please…"

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Lance watches as Yellow lion turns toward Arus with Black on top of it then turns back to the fighters around them, "Let's clean them up Pidge!"

A smile crosses his face as Pidge answers, "You got it!"

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Lotor swears as he wavers while walking into the main flight deck. A robot follows him while trying to place medical tape on his shoulder, "Please…highness! Let me get this tended to!"

Shoving the robot away from him, Lotor calls out, "Status!"

A robot turns away from the controls, "The lions are taking out our attack ships at an expedited rate."

Lotor looks up at the monitors watching as the two lions continue to destroy his ships, "Call a retreat!" As the robot approaches Lotor again to work on his injured arm, Lotor pulls his sword out of his belt and slices the robot in two.

He looks down at the remains of the robot as sparks arc out of it before calling out, "Get me another Medibot, I'll be in my quarters."

Walking out of the flight deck, Lotor snarls, "They will pay for this...as will Allura, for ruining my victory."

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Hunk flies as fast as he can with the added weight of Black lion toward the castle. He hits the button on his comm. and Coran appears before him on screen, "Coran, I'll be landing in two minutes. Need the medical team ready for Keith, he's out cold."

Coran's face pales slightly before him, "Alerting them now." and the screen goes black.

Taking a deep breath, Hunk pushes Yellow lion as fast as he can, "Almost there Cap…almost there."

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Lance watches as the last of the fighters turn to fly away, following the command ship. Green lion flies past him and he calls out, "Let them go Pidge. We need to get back to the castle."

Pidge appears before him on the video screen, "Roger that…how's Princess?"

Lance glances back behind him again to find Allura hasn't moved, her head is still lolling forward gently with the movement of the lion before he turns back to the screen, "Not good…I don't know what Lotor did to her, but she isn't responding."

Turning Red towards Arus, Lance kicks in the afterburners, "Let's get back quick and get her to MedTech. I'm sure Dr. Gorma will be able to heal her in no time."

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Lance lands Red close to Yellow and Black lions in time to see a gurney surrounded by medical personnel disappearing into the castle. He gets out of the pilot seat and unbuckles the straps holding Allura in place, catching her as she falls forward.

Pulling her into his arms, Lance carries Allura out of the lion to find Coran and Nanny in front of him. Nanny rushes him to grab at Allura, "Oh my baby…my precious, precious baby!" A moment later she cries out, "Please Allura, answer me!"

Lance lifts his eyes to Coran, "She is nonresponsive…she seems to be fine physically, but she won't respond Coran."

Coran looks Allura up and down as Hunk and Pidge join them, "Let's get her into the castle. I'm sure Dr. Gorma will be able to figure out what is wrong with her."

Lance nods then follows Coran into the castle, holding Allura close to him as he walks. Hunk and Pidge follow them, carrying a crying Nanny between them.


	8. Chapter 8

I make no claims to Voltron or any WEP characters.

Enjoy Chapter 8

Mertz

Several hours later, Keith moans in pain as he slowly awakens to the sounds of the machines hooked up to him. Whispering begins around him and finally one voice emerges, "Keith?" He forces his eyes to open slowly as the sound of a door closing reaches him and Hunk's kindly face smiles down at him, "Hey Cap…"

After blinking several times to make his vision clearer, Keith hoarsely whispers, "Hunk? Where am I?"

"MedTech Keith…" Hunk takes a step back so Keith doesn't have to stare up at him before he continues, "You lost a lot of blood with that shoulder wound and fell unconscious. I brought in Black lion and you immediately went into surgery."

Keith finally notices that his right arm is immobilized against him and his memory slowly starts to clear. He tries to sit up as panic fills him, "Allura?"

Hunk pushes him back down against his pillows as he says, "She is here, Keith. Lance and Pidge are with her…" He pauses a moment before adding, "Princess is catatonic Keith. We don't know what Lotor did to her, but according to Dr. Gorma, he didn't rape her. However, we can't get Princess to speak to us."

Starting to rise again, Keith's commanding voice makes Hunk jump, "Get Dr. Gorma in here and get me unhooked from these damn machines. Only I can wake her up."

Hunk nods and quickly walks out of the room.

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Hunk follows Keith as he slowly walks down the hallway with Dr. Gorma in his wake, "Commander, this is a very foolish idea. If you rip out those stitches you could injure your shoulder worse…"

Keith ignores the doctor's continued protests as he reaches Allura's room and walks into it. He spots Lance sitting by Allura's bed as he talks to her, "Please Princess…wake up and speak to us. You are safe."

The noise of the door shutting has Lance turning around and standing up with an astonished look on his face, "Keith! What the hell are you doing out of bed? You only got out of surgery a few hours ago!"

Keith ignores Lance as he makes his way to Allura's side. He almost stumbles and Lance grabs him, "Dammit Keith!"

Pulling away from Lance, Keith sits down beside Allura, "I can wake her…"

The doors to the room open as Coran and Nanny quickly walk in. Keith glances at them then turns back to Allura. Rage fills him as he takes in her bruised cheek and cut lip. He takes a deep breath and shakes his head to clear his mind of the painkillers' interference and concentrates on penetrating her closed thoughts, '_Allura, you are safe now…come out of hiding.'_

She doesn't move her face still carefully blank as she blinks occasionally. Keith takes a deep breath and leans over her as he tries again, '_Allura, I told you I would come to you when it was safe. Come back to me love.'_

Coran watches as Keith stares down on the princess and thinks, _God please let this work. If he is truly her soul mate he should be able to bring her out of this._

Frustrated by her lack of response, Keith leans down so his lips are just above hers and projects his thoughts to her as hard as he can, '_Allura…I'm going to kiss you. Feel my touch sweetheart and return to me.'_

Keith gently presses his lips against hers and in his mind; he hears a faint whisper, '_Keith…'_

As she begins to respond to his kiss, he feels her fingers moving up his good arm and Keith lifts his face up, breaking the kiss so he can look into her eyes. Sapphire eyes fill with tears and a collective sigh of relief is heard around the room as she finally whispers aloud, "Keith…"

Keith smiles softly at her and moves his good arm to push her hair out of her face, "Welcome back…"

Tears run out of her eyes as she sits up, wrapping her arms around him and sobs out, "Keith…"

A groan of pain escapes Keith as she unintentionally hits his injured shoulder. Allura pulls back and looks him over before finding his eyes again, '_You were injured? How? When?'_

Keith sits up slowly away from her as he painfully grimaces, '_Lotor's sword…I'll be fine.'_

At Lotor's name, Allura's eyes tear up again and she looks away from Keith as she collapses back onto her pillow. Keith notices and reaches down to touch her bruised cheek, '_You are fine Allura…we got to you before he could rape you.'_

Allura looks up to find Keith's dark, tender gaze looking deeply into her eyes. He takes her hand and a feeling of calmness spreads over her as Keith surrounds her with a feeling of safety.

Lance watches as Keith continues to converse with Allura via their link and calms her down. He glances over at Coran and notes the satisfied expression on his face as he watches the two before Coran turns to people in the room, "Princess Allura appears to be fine. Let's let her rest."

Coran pushes everyone out of the room but Dr. Gorma. Dr. Gorma walks over to them and gently taps Keith on his good shoulder, "Commander, I suggest you get back into your own bed and rest."

Keith glances back at him like he would like to argue but a sudden feeling of exhaustion over takes him and he slowly releases Allura's hand to rise, "I think you are right."

Allura sits up and reaches for his left hand, holding it within hers, "Keith?"

Keith turns back to her and smiles softly at her while squeezing her hand, "It's alright Allura."

Dr. Gorma places his hand on Keith's good arm and turns him to direct Keith out of the room. Allura slowly sits up in her bed as if to rise but stops when she feels Coran's hand on her arm, "It is alright Allura, Keith needs to rest so he may recover from his injuries."

Allura nods and lies back on her pillows once more. Coran smiles down on her kindly as he states, "He brought you back. Keith is your soul mate."

A small smile crosses Allura's lips before it slips away again. She utters softly, "But he doesn't want me."

Coran smiles at her as he pats her hand, "Have some patience Allura. He will find his way to you eventually." Allura studies the kindly eyes looking down on her. She finally lets out a sigh and turns over as Coran adds, "Rest for now."

Coran watches her for a moment longer, saying a little prayer for her safe return before he turns and leaves the room.

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Late that night, Allura tosses her head in her sleep as her dream of Lotor attacking her continues. A cry of terror escapes her before a voice enters her head, '_Allura, wake up…you are safe.'_

Her eyes open as Keith's voice continues to echo in her head, '_That bastard will never touch you again.'_

Allura throws her blankets off and rises from the bed. Leaving her room, she walks down the hallway to Keith's room. Pressing the button to open the door, Allura walks in slowly as Keith turns his head toward her to ask, "Are you alright?"

Nodding her head slowly, Allura's gaze travels along Keith's body and pauses on his shoulder, '_Does it hurt?'_

A sigh leaves Keith and Allura raises her eyes to meet his. Keith studies her battered face silently for a moment before he speaks softly, "Yes, it does. Do you hurt?"

Allura waves her hand dismissing his question as she walks over to the bed to stand beside him and asks, "Did you take anything for the pain?"

Keith shakes his head at her, "You know I don't like that stuff."

She lowers her hand and lightly traces the fingers of Keith's left hand with her finger tips. Keith grasps her fingers within his hand and lifts his gaze to find her watching him closely again. Her soft, pleading voice fills his mind, _'Can I sleep by you?'_

He watches her for a moment before answering her, "Yes."

Allura crawls under the blankets and lies along his left side to avoid Keith's injured shoulder. Keith shifts his arm to make her more comfortable as she rests her head near his shoulder and lets out a deep sigh of satisfaction. The continuous throbbing pain from his shoulder lessens as Allura's feelings of contentment spreads through him.

Keith sighs as her feelings continue to project over him and he wraps his arm around her to hold her close to him. His eyes begin to drift shut as sleep finally claims him and as Allura whispers to his mind, the last thing he hears is, _'I love you.'_

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_Keith walks through a meadow full of flowers to the beautiful woman standing in the middle of them. He watches as she bends over picking several of them and arranging them within her hands into a beautiful bouquet. _

_The woman finally stands upright and glances over her shoulder at him and a smile crosses her face. Turning fully around, she walks over to Keith and hands him the bouquet. Keith holds the flowers up to his nose and inhales their sweet scent before his dark gaze rises and meets her blue one._

_She grabs his hands and pulls the bouquet closer to herself once more and inhales the smell before smiling up into his eyes, "These are her favorites you know…"_

_Keith looks at her slightly confused, "Whose?"_

_A soft, fragile looking hand rises to caress his cheek before she replies, "The one you belong with."_

_Keith violently shakes his head in response, "I belong with you and no other."_

_The smile that crosses her face is a tender but sad one, "But you never belonged with me…"_

_Before he can protest again, she places a finger against his lips, "Don't throw it away for what is gone and can never be again."_

_She steps away from him and smiles sadly at him before disappearing._

Keith's eyes fly open but he can't sit up with the weight against his left side. Turning his head, he listens to Allura sigh deeply in her sleep as her hand tightens against his side; almost as if she is afraid he would pull away from her while she slept.

Moving his fingers lightly along Allura's exposed upper arm, Keith watches as goose bumps form along her skin where his fingers had touched. He pauses as Allura murmurs in her sleep and shifts against him, her breasts rubbing against his side.

As her distended nipples brush against his chest, Keith sucks in a deep breath as desire and longing suddenly suffuses his system, Allura's desire. Cursing himself, he thinks, _Damn…that was stupid._ Keith moves his hand away from Allura's arm and stills himself while trying to go back to sleep.

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The sound of voices wakes Allura the next morning. Slowly, she opens her eyes as Keith finishes his conversation with Dr. Gorma and then the doctor leaves the room. As she lifts her head, Keith turns his face toward her, _'Good morning.'_

Allura smiles at him and tightens her grip around his waist, hugging Keith as she answers, _'Good morning.'_

Keith studies her eyes for a few more moments before asking, _'Sleep well?'_

A sigh escapes Allura as she breaks eye contact and turns her face into Keith's chest to rub her check against him, _'No more bad dreams.'_

His brow furrows as he grasps what she said and Keith asks, _'What did you dream?'_

'_A lady came to me…she was beautiful. She told me, 'It is time…'_ Allura turns her face back to Keith. A sense of déjà vu settles uneasily over Keith as he asks, "What did she look like?"

Allura looks at Keith a bit confused before answering, "Oh, she was taller than me. She didn't tell me her name, but she had this long ebony hair, porcelain skin and ruby red lips. And her eyes…they were even bluer than mine." She turns her gaze back to Keith and becomes concerned about his suddenly pale face, "Keith? What's wrong?"

Words fail Keith as he processes Allura's accurate description of his wife. When he fails to speak Allura enters his mind, _'Keith? What's wrong?'_ A moment of silence passes before she adds, _'You are scaring me! Keith, please!'_

Keith finally finds his voice as he quietly asks, "What else did she tell you?"

Shaking her head at his lack of answers, Allura blushes slightly before responding via their link, _'That the other half of my soul would be with me soon.'_

Distressed, Keith pushes Allura away from him as he rises from the bed. Allura's pleading voice fills his mind, _'Keith! Please, what's wrong? What did I say wrong?'_

He glances back at her to find tears sliding down her cheeks before he walks out of the room, the sound of Allura crying echoing in his mind. Keith brushes by the nurse who tries to stop him and leaves MedTech, dressed only in his pajama bottoms.

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Lance finds Keith sitting in the grass by the side of the lake twenty minutes later. He throws the robe he brought with him around Keith's bare shoulders as he approaches him, "It's a little cold to be sitting outside in just pajama bottoms Keith."

Keith glances up at him and Lance is shocked by the pain visible in Keith's red, tear stained eyes before he turns his gaze back to the lake. Lance sits down beside him silently for a few minutes before he speaks quietly to him, "Allura is freaking out that you walked out of MedTech. Most of the palace guard is looking for you."

When Keith fails to respond, Lance pulls his comm. unit off his belt and radios in, "I've found Keith, call off the search." Pidge's relieved voice responds, "Will do."

Lance turns his gaze back to Keith, "What's going on buddy? It isn't like you to just walk away."

Keith's voice is low and hoarse with tears when he finally responds, "Andrea told me to leave her…why would she do that?"

A concerned look crosses Lance's face as he asks, "Keith…Andrea is dead…how can you leave her?"

Tears continue down Keith's face as he utters, "Her spirit came to me Lance and she came to Allura and said the same thing to us, "It is time…" How can she ask me to no longer honor her memory and go to someone else?"

Finally understanding what is going on, Lance throws an arm around Keith's shoulders, avoiding his injury, "Keith, Andrea would never have wanted you to go through the rest of your life alone. She would have wanted you to find love again and to be happy. That is why she is telling you it is time…it is time for you to move on with your life."

Keith turns his gaze back to the lake as he works through everything she has told him in his dreams lately before realizing the truth, Andrea was telling him goodbye. Tears continue to run down his cheeks as a quiet sob escapes him.

Lance doesn't say anything; he just sits there beside his friend wishing he can take Keith's pain away as he joins Keith in looking across the lake.


	9. Chapter 9

I make no claims to Voltron or any WEP characters.

Enjoy Chapter 9

Mertz

Allura watches as Lance guides Keith back into his room in MedTech. She tries to rush to the door after they enter but is stopped by Coran, "Leave him alone Allura."

She tries to pull away from him only for Coran to tighten his grip on her arm, "Allura, give him some time please." She turns her tear stained face to him as Coran speaks calmly to her, "He needs to work through whatever is bothering him…give Keith the space he needs."

Before she can say anything the door opens again and she briefly sees Keith's despondent face before Lance walks out and closes the door after him. Allura looks up into Lance's face as he studies her for a moment. He shifts his gaze to Coran and nods at him before taking Allura's arm and guiding her back down to her room in MedTech.

Once the door closes behind them, Lance releases Allura's arm and watches as she walks toward the bed and wraps her arms around herself while sitting down. She turns her tear stained face to Lance and whispers, "What did I do wrong?"

Lance runs his hand through his hair agitated before he sits beside Allura and puts an arm around her, "Allura, this isn't about you, but you do need to give him the time he needs right now or he will turn on you."

As Allura nods at him, Lance kisses the side of her head and rises to leave the room.

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Late that night, Allura lies in her bed, unable to sleep and decides to try speaking to Keith mentally. Tentatively she whispers, _'Keith?'_

Silence settles in Allura's mind as he doesn't respond. Tears run down her cheeks as she tries once more, _'Keith, please…'_

She gasps as she feels a mental push as Keith manages to block her from his mind. The loss of the connection feels like a steel blade going through her heart and Allura curls up into a ball sobbing.

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Two days later Lance walks into Keith's room and watches as the doctor works with Keith to rotate his shoulder slowly. At Keith's grimace of pain, Dr. Gorma stops and sighs, "I told you Commander, you are trying to push too hard, too fast; the tissue needs to heal."

Keith lets out a deep sigh of frustration before nodding to the doctor. He sits patiently as Dr. Gorma once again immobilizes his right arm against his chest before he switches his gaze to Lance.

Lance watches him silently until Dr. Gorma leaves the room then opens his mouth, "Are you done hurting her yet?"

Arching an eyebrow at Lance, Keith asks, "What are you talking about?"

Crossing his arms while glaring at him, Lance spits out, "Allura, asshole."

Keith carefully arranges his face to look neutral before asking, "How am I hurting her?"

Lance snorts in disgust, "Allura isn't speaking much to anyone and she won't eat or sleep. The only thing I managed to get out of her was some babble about being blocked by you before she curled back into a ball and started crying again. Nanny tried to force some food into her this morning and Allura grabbed the tray and threw it at her." He gives Keith a sardonic look, "Too bad she missed Nanny and hit the wall instead."

Keith looks away from Lance and opens his mind to Allura. A sudden rush of pain and misery fills Keith and he throws back his blankets, swearing as he gets out of the bed. Lance watches astonished, as Keith walks out of the room and quickly follows him.

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Keith quickly walks down the hall, cursing his painful shoulder as he reaches Allura's room and uses his left hand to hit the button on the panel to the right. The door opens and he walks into the room to find Nanny pleading with Allura while Coran stands behind watching, "Please Princess, you must eat or the doctor will be forced to feed you through a tube."

His gaze drifts over to the bed, where Allura lies curled up into a ball. His eyes move till they meet with Coran's. Keith shifts his head, signaling them to leave and Coran nods.

He grabs Nanny's arm, "Come Nanny…" and pulls her up out of the chair.

Nanny looks at Coran before shifting her gaze to Keith and narrowing her eyes at him. Before she can blast him, Coran covers her mouth with his hand and pulls her out of the room. Keith looks behind him and watches as Lance smiles at him lightly before turning around and leaving the room.

Keith walks over to the bed, sitting down beside Allura before speaking to her, _'Allura…'_

He watches her shift slightly so she can look at him and he reaches down with his left hand to caress her cheek, _'I'm sorry…'_

Allura studies his face for several moments before she moves slowly to lay her head in Keith's lap as she wraps her arms around his waist. Keith runs his fingers in her hair while holding her close to him as he listens to her cry.

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A short time later, Keith sighs as Allura rubs her cheek against his chest once more. When she had quit crying moments earlier, Keith had lain down beside her and Allura had aligned herself to Keith's left side. He lightly rubs her back before asking, _'Feeling better?'_

He hears a soft sniffle before she answers him, _'Yes…but never shut me out again.' _She lifts her head and angry sapphire eyes lock with his dark ones, _'You hurt, I hurt.'_

Keith moves his hand from the back of her head to cup her cheek as he studies her eyes, _'I know…'_

Allura lays her head back down on Keith's chest before asking, _'Why were you so upset? Why did you shut me out?'_

She listens to him take a deep breath and release it while he move his fingers back into her hair, stroking it, before he answers her, "Andrea…my wife…my dead wife. She came to me before your birthday and told me, 'It's time…'" He pauses…stroking her hair, "You described her accurately Allura. Andrea was in your dream and said the same thing to you that she had said to me."

Allura lifts her head to look into his eyes again, astonished, "I don't understand…why?"

She watches as Keith's throat muscles work before he hoarsely answers her, "She was telling me goodbye…" Allura lifts her eyes back to Keith's as a tear runs down his cheek. Reaching out with her fingers, Allura wipes it away as she whispers, "I'm sorry…"

Keith closes his eyes and lays his head back on the pillow as he tries to regain control of his emotions. Allura studies him sadly for a moment before laying her head back down on his chest. She listens to the sound of his beating heart for several minutes before she whispers to him, _'Will you ever let me love you?'_

She feels the fingers of his good hand once again stroking her hair before he answers her, '_I thought you would ask if I would ever love you…'_

Allura lifts her head to study his eyes, "I know you already do. It's my love you keep blocking…" She pauses a moment, "Almost like you are afraid to be loved again."

She watches his eyes darken as he moves his fingers from her hair to her lips and traces them with his fingertips. Allura presses her lips against them then leans forward and presses her lips against Keith's.

His fingers once again find her hair as he holds her head in place and gently moving his lips against hers. Allura lets out a sigh against his lips before lifting her face to once again look into his eyes, _'I do love you Keith…forever.'_

Keith studies her eyes for a moment before pulling her head back down so that he can kiss her again.

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Allura awakens some time later to find Keith watching her closely as his fingers lightly tease her back. He smiles at her before asking, "Sleep well?"

She studies his eyes for several moments before smiling back at him, _'Yes.'_ Pulling her body further up along his, Allura places a kiss on his neck before reaching his lips. She listens to a sigh leave him before he deepens the kiss, his tongue lightly probing her mouth.

Allura slides her knee up along Keith's legs and comes into contact with his hardening manhood. Keith pulls away from the kiss with a groan. Moving his hand back into Allura's hair, Keith tangles his fingers into it and pushes his head back into the pillow, _'We need to stop Allura.'_

Projecting out her feelings of desire to Keith, Allura listens to another groan leave him while his manhood throbs against her leg, _'I don't want to.'_ She lowers her lips back to his neck and places a kiss on his Adam's apple then lets her tongue lightly move along the side of his neck, toward his ear. As his feelings of desire also suffuse her, Allura lets out a whimpering sound as her nipples harden and a pressure fills her nether regions.

The combination of feeling his own desire mixing in with Allura's has Keith nearing the edge of his control. Pulling his fingers out of her hair, Keith grabs Allura's shoulder, _'Please love…stop.'_

Allura looks up and meets his eyes, _'But I want you to make love to me.'_

She watches his eyes darken, feeling a heightened dose of the raging desire running through Keith before he closes his eyes and takes several deep breaths to gain control. Allura feels his arousal lessening and when he finally reopens his eyes, he speaks to her, "Allura, I know you want it…but now is not the time. Not when my arm is bandaged to my chest and I can't use it."

He moves his fingers from her shoulder to caress her cheek, "When we make love for the first time, it will be special Allura. Not a rush job here in MedTech, hoping no one will walk in."

Disappointment enters Allura's eyes as she shifts slightly and feels Keith's hardened length move against her once more as a grimace covers his face. Allura shifts her weight off of Keith and she looks down his body to find his manhood pushing up against his pajama bottoms.

Lifting her gaze to Keith while moving her hand along his chest and feeling the rippling muscles of his abdomen, Allura asks, _'Does it hurt?'_

A groan escapes Keith and he reaches around with his good arm to grab her forearm, "Allura, please…"

Allura pulls her arm away from Keith to reach up to caress his cheek, "Let me pleasure you."

A look of indecision enters his eyes and Allura leans up to kiss his lips, "I want to…please let me."

He studies her eyes for several moments before she hears his reluctant answer, _'As you wish…'_

A brilliant smile crosses Allura's face as she leans down to kiss him once more before sliding down his body. She runs her hand along his chest. At least the area not blocked by his injured arm and lightly grazes his nipple with her fingernails.

She listens to him inhale deeply before his desire once again surges through her. Smiling to herself, Allura leans over and kisses his nipple while her fingers continue their journey down his abdomen, lightly teasing the skin. Another deep groan escapes Keith as she wraps her lips around his nipple, sucking lightly on it before releasing it to move further down his body.

Keith closes his eyes and pushes his head back into the pillow when he feels Allura kissing different spots on his abdomen while her fingers tease the waistband around his pajama bottoms. He moves his fingers back down into her hair and groans again as she kisses his belly button then pauses.

Opening his eyes again, Keith looks down to watch Allura sit up slightly and look up into his eyes as her fingers slightly pull at the waist band. He hears her voice in his mind asking, _'May I?'_

Unable to speak, he nods and Allura looks away as her fingers pull down on his pajamas. Keith lifts his hips slightly so Allura can finish exposing his groin to her hungry eyes. She pauses as Keith's manhood is exposed to her and looks at it in wonder before letting her fingers lightly touch its impressive length.

Her eyes lift back up to Keith's, _'So soft and velvety…yet hard as steel. What do I do?'_

Keith takes a deep breath as she continues to caress him as her question once again enters his mind, _'Tell me what to do to pleasure you Keith.'_

Barely able to think as she continues her tortuous teasing, Keith manages to push out a thought, _'Whatever you wish…just touch me…'_

He stops when he hears Allura's voice in his head, _'Can I kiss it?'_ The pleasure Keith feels at just the thought of it reaches Allura and she gasps with the intensity of it before Keith opens his mouth and a guttural, "God yes…" escapes him.

Allura looks back down on Keith's shaft and lightly presses her lips against the tip. She feels Keith jerk in her hand and looks back up to find his eyes closed and a look of concentration on his face. Turning back to the throbbing shaft in front of her, Allura lowers her head and lightly moves her tongue from the tip to the base and back up again.

Keith's deep groan echoes in her head and his pleasure encompasses Allura's entire body. Releasing her own groan, Allura pulls the tip of his engorged manhood into her mouth and sucks hard on it before lowering her mouth along the rest of the length and rising back up again.

'_God…yes Allura…'_ enters her mind and Allura repeats the movement feeling Keith pushing his hips up against her to push more into her. She keeps moving her mouth along him and as Keith's pleasure mounts, so does hers. Keith lets out a deep groan as Allura's bliss and desire mixes with his own and he feels himself coming close to the edge.

Gritting his teeth, Keith reaches down with his hand to shove his fingers into Allura's hair, "Stop Allura, pull up."

Allura releases Keith confused and looks up into his face as he lets go of her hair to pull his manhood up toward his abdomen and away from her face as he comes with a groan. She looks back down to watch him ejaculate onto his stomach before looking back up into his closed eyes as she feels his body relax underneath her.

Watching him intently she asks, _'Why did you have me pull away?'_

Keith opens his eyes to look down at Allura and lets out a sigh, _'Not all women like the taste of ejaculate Allura. I didn't want you to choke or gag on it.'_

Allura looks back down at the white substance on Keith's belly and touches it with her finger before placing the finger in her mouth. She makes a face at the taste and quickly pulls her finger out of her mouth listening to Keith's soft chuckle, _'And you are one of them that doesn't…'_

Pulling herself away, Allura rises from the bed to walk into the bathroom. She returns with a wet washcloth and wipes the mess off of Keith carefully before returning the wash cloth to the bathroom. Watching for a moment as Keith struggles to get his pajama bottoms back into place, Allura walks back to him and helps Keith pull them up while he lifts his hips.

Once he stops moving, Allura crawls back into bed with him and sighs as he runs his fingers into her hair again, "Thank you Allura."

She moves her head to look back up into his face before sliding up to kiss him once more on the lips, _'Anything for the man I love…'_

Keith smiles against her lips and projects out a feeling of contentment at her. Allura lifts up to look into his eyes, _'I swear if you were a cat, you would be purring right now…'_

She starts laughing as Keith makes a purring sound at her while pulling her down to hug her against his body.


	10. Chapter 10

I make no claims to Voltron or any WEP characters.

Enjoy Chapter 10

Mertz

Two days later, Keith stands in castle control beside Coran as the other four lions move through the air with Lance in the lead. Leaning forward, Keith takes the command microphone from Coran with his left hand as he gives a command, "Great Lance, but I want you to push Blue as hard as you can. Get the systems up to Mach 15 and dive."

Coran waits till Keith releases the microphone before asking, "Is that wise? This is the first time Princess has been in Blue since the navigation system was rebuilt." He pauses for a moment, "As well as her crash and capture."

Keith looks down solemnly on Coran, "I know…but if there are going to be problems with either the lion or Allura, I want to know now and not while we are in combat."

Taking a deep breath, Coran replies, "I understand."

Keith nods and reaching up to rub his still immobilized right arm, his gaze moving back to the monitors in front of them.

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Lance grimaces when he hears Keith's orders. He reaches over to flip a button and brings Allura up on his video comm., "Ready for this Princess?"

He watches as Allura grits her teeth and her jaw becomes rigid, "Yes."

Nodding in response and letting out a small prayer, Lance calls out, "All lions, set speed for Mach 15 and follow my mark."

Lance flies up into the stratosphere as Red lion speeds up then dives back toward Arus, calling out his speed, "Mach 5…9…11…13…" He takes a deep breath, "Mach 15" and watches the ground quickly come into his view finder. Well before he reaches the danger mark, Lance pulls Red up out of the dive then stops in the sky to watch the others.

Holding his breath, Lance watches first Yellow and then Green lion pull out of their dives. His eyes move to Blue lion and watches as the lion gets closer and closer to the ground. Feeling a little panicky, Lance calls out, "Allura! Pull up!"

A breath of relief leaves him as he watches Blue lion pull up out of the dive and perform several loops in the air while listening to the sound of Allura's laughter over the comm. Flipping his screen once more, Lance glares at a smiling Allura, "Were you trying to scare the bejesus out of me?"

Allura smiles at him, "No Lance, Blue handles like a dream!" She continues to fly around the other lions, performing loops around them, listening to Pidge and Hunk laugh at her before she continues, "Blue has never handled this well."

Lance shakes his head at her before flipping back to castle control. Looking at Keith and Coran, Lance smiles, "Test completed Keith…performance is as expected."

He watches a relieved smile cross his best friend's face, "That's great! Head back to the castle."

Lance nods then calls out, "You heard the man…back to the castle people."

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Lance, Pidge and Hunk exit the launch tubes to find Keith smiling at them, "No problems at all then?"

Lance shakes his head, "No…she did great!"

Keith nods then turns his gaze to Allura as she runs out of her tube. Allura quickly walks up to him and wraps her arms around his waist while pushing her face into his neck. Keith wraps his arm around her and rubs her back while he turns his head to kiss her forehead, _'Are you alright?'_

Allura shifts her head enough to kiss his neck, _"Yes…it was fantastic. Blue has never handled as well as she does now.'_ She listens to Keith release a relieved breath, burying her face into his neck once more.

Lance smiles at the couple while thinking, _It's about damned time…_ His gaze moves to Hunk and Pidge who smile at him before turning around to leave the room. He feels a hand on his shoulder and turns to find Coran smiling at Keith and Allura before turning his gaze to him, "Are you thinking it's about time Lieutenant?"

Laughing, Lance nods at Coran before turning to follow Hunk and Pidge out of the room.

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That night, Nanny walks down the halls and raises her fist to hammer on a door. She hears a muffled, "One moment…"

Soon the door opens and a ruffled looking Coran raises his eyebrows while tying a robe shut, "Nanny? What's going on that you need to disturb me at this late hour?"

Nanny pushes into Coran's room and begins her tirade, "I went to check on Princess and she is not in her room…she is with that man again. I demand that you go with me to pull her out of his room."

Coran sighs as he moves across his bedroom to a chair near the fire place. He lets the warmth of the fire pervade his being before turning his gaze back on Nanny, "It won't do any good Nanny, the Commander is her soul mate and she is drawn to him like a moth to the flame."

Nanny puts her hands on her hips, "It is not proper…he is not even royalty! The laws of Arus strictly state that members of the royal house of Arus must marry another member of royalty..."

"Except when the matter of soul mates arises…" Coran interrupts her, "Even the laws created so long ago left open the right of a member of the royal house of Arus to marry their soul mate, no matter their station in life."

When Nanny opens her mouth to argue again, Coran raises his hand to stop her, "Nanny, you know what happens to a person denied their soul mate. The depression and eventual decline has been well documented which is why that clause was added to the laws regarding persons of royal blood."

Defeated, Nanny sits down in the chair opposite Coran, "But they aren't married…not even engaged, it isn't right that they are together!"

Coran lets out a deep sigh, "I had a discussion with the Commander this afternoon Nanny. He gave me his word that there will be no…"relations" until they are engaged, preferably married."

Nanny arches a brow at him, "You had better hope so."

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Lying in his bed, Keith takes a deep breath as Allura moves against his side again, her breasts rubbing against him. As he feels himself harden, he stifles a groan before reaching out to her, _'Stay still Allura…'_

Allura smiles to herself then she slides her head a little farther down Keith's chest so she can look out the window better. The dark night sky draws her gaze as she studies the twinkling stars and the half moon. As a cloud slowly drifts over the moon, darkening the room even further, Allura lets out a sigh.

She lifts her head when she hears Keith's chuckle, "What?"

Keith reaches down and strokes Allura's hair out of her face, _'I'm beginning to think you came here for my view of the night sky instead of me.'_

A soft smile spreads across Allura's face as she slowly pulls herself up and places her lips against Keith's for a moment. Pulling back she whispers, "The view is secondary…if extraordinary." She presses her lips to his and lets out a whimper as Keith deepens the kiss, his tongue gently stroking her mouth.

She slides her hand along his strapped down arm and Keith pulls away from the kiss. Allura studies his eyes for several quiet moments before asking, _'Why did you stop?'_

Keith lets out a sigh and reaches up with his hand to push her hair back again, _'I had to stop before I wouldn't be able to.'_

Allura smiles down at him, moving her fingers to touch his mouth lightly, _'I wouldn't have minded if you wouldn't have stopped.'_

Keith kisses her fingers then replies, "We aren't ready for that Allura."

A look of disappointment crosses her face, "But we are alone…no one will interrupt." She leans down to kiss him again and Keith pulls back, "No Allura, we aren't even engaged yet."

Her eyes shine in the near darkness, "Was that an offer?"

Keith can't help but smile at her, "No…it wasn't." As her face drops again, Keith lets out a quiet laugh then reaches for her chin with his good hand to pull her down for a quick kiss. Keith whispers against her pouting lips, "When I propose to you Allura, you won't have to ask if I did." He kisses her again then releases her chin to stroke her hair down her back.

Allura studies his eyes for a moment then asks, _'Can I pleasure you again?'_

Keith's eyes darken with the thought but he shakes his head, "No Allura…"

Disappointed, she asks, "Why? You let me in MedTech…"

Keith lets out a sigh as he reaches for her cheek to caress it, "I shouldn't have let you do that either. If Coran or Nanny would have walked in…" Keith shudders a little at the thought before he continues, "Allura, I don't know that I have the control to stop if we get started…I made a promise to Coran this afternoon. No relations between us until we are at least engaged."

Allura lets out a sigh and lays her head down on his chest, just underneath his chin. She feels Keith kiss the top of her head and closes her eyes to go to sleep.

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_Allura walks out into a field of flowers. Looking around, she is surprised to find they are her favorites, Arusian daisies, in an assortment of colors. Bending down, Allura picks a few and holds them to her nose to inhale their sweet fragrance when she hears a voice behind her, "Hello."_

_Standing up, Allura quickly turns around to find Andrea behind her. Feeling a little apprehensive, Allura quietly returns the greeting before asking, "What do you want?"_

_Andrea smiles at her before gesturing Allura to follow her. She leads Allura to a blanket a little ways away and sits down on one side of it before gesturing to Allura to sit on the other side. As Allura sits down, Andrea speaks, "It wasn't his fault…"_

_Allura looks at her confused before asking, "What wasn't?"_

"_My death…" Andrea turns away and plucks a nearby pink daisy and slowly starts pulling off the petals before continuing, "Although, he has always blamed himself for it." Electric blue eyes rise to meet the sapphire ones across from her, "Stubborn man that he is."_

_Allura smiles at her before deciding to ask, "Is this a dream?"_

_Andrea drops the stem of the flower to pick a new one and once again starts pulling the petals off, "Yes and no…you are asleep. But this is more of a place that falls in between dreams and reality. The only place that I still exist, at least until I know he will be happy. Then I can move on."_

_Silence fills the air for several moments before Allura asks, "How can I make him happy?"_

_A soft laugh fills the air, "You are well on your way and need no help from me there. As I said, Keith is a stubborn man, while you are wearing him down and he is slowly starting to accept that you two belong together, he is still worried that he isn't honoring our wedding vows."_

_She looks up at Allura again, "He keeps forgetting the "until death do us part" bit…I am dead, he needs to move on." Andrea stands up and smiles down on Allura, "You two will do well together, I know this. He is your soul mate, while I was fortunate enough to have his love for a time."_

_Andrea steps away from Allura, taking a few steps across the field before stopping and turning back to her, "As Lance is fond of saying, Keith can be a stubborn ass…do not be afraid to fight him for what you believe is right." Smiling one more time, Andrea disappears._

Allura sits upright in bed, gasping for air. Keith grabs her arm, a concerned look on his face, "Allura? What's wrong?"

She turns around and looks down at him before lying back down on top of him, "Nothing…just a dream."

Stroking her hair, Keith whispers to her mind, _'Want to talk about it?'_

Allura is silent for a few moments before responding, _'Andrea came to me again…'_ She feels Keith stiffen slightly underneath her before he hoarsely asks, "What did she say?"

Shifting so she can look at him, Allura lets out a sigh before answering, "She told me she can only leave when she knows you are happy." She places her head back down on his chest and a moment of silence passes before Allura adds, "She kept calling you stubborn…"

She listens to the snort that escapes Keith followed by a deep sigh, "She called me that on a regular basis while we were married."

Allura relaxes as Keith once again strokes her hair before asking, "Did she say anything else?"

Letting out a sigh, Allura looks back up at him, "Nothing really…just that she is waiting for you to move on so she can."

Keith lets out a deep breath, "I know…" He moves his hand to touch her cheek. Allura turns her head and kisses the palm of his hand before laying her head back down on his chest. She feels Keith's hand move into her hair and hears, "Sleep well…my love."

A feeling of happiness encompasses Allura as she closes her eyes to go back to sleep.

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The next morning, Keith grits his teeth as Dr. Gorma rotates his arm around. As the doctor finishes the rotation, he asks, "How much pain on a scale of one to ten?"

Taking a deep breath, Keith responds, "Two."

The doctor snorts, "So more like five…" Keith glares at him as Dr. Gorma adds, "I saw you gritting your teeth…a two wouldn't have you doing that."

Keith rolls his eyes and proceeds to move his arm around on his own before asking, "Can I go without it being taped down?"

He listens to the doctor sigh deeply before answering him, "Yes, you may… I know you are going to ignore this, but do not try to overdo it or you will only reinjure your arm and make the healing process take longer."

Keith nods as he jumps down from the exam table and proceeds to put his shirt back on. Dr. Gorma finishes writing something down on a slip of paper and hands it to Keith, "I mean it Commander, you will follow these instructions or end up having more surgery to correct the damage you will do."

After reading through the paper, Keith nods, "I will follow it to the best of my abilities doctor."

Dr. Gorma snorts again, "See that you do." before turning and walking out of the room.

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Keith walks into the control room just as the others return from practice. Allura walks up to him for a hug and lightly touches his shoulder, "Dr. Gorma cleared you?"

Nodding, Keith lets out a sigh, "Kind of…I'm under strict orders for lifting and I won't be able to get back into Black for at least one more week unless we are attacked."

Lance walks up to him and lifts an eyebrow, "So let me guess, the first thing you are going to do is go to the gym and start lifting weights with that arm…"

Laughing as Keith glares at him, Lance adds, "I know you _way_ too well my friend."

Keith rolls his eyes as Allura smiles up into his face, "Yes, I am going to the gym, but I will only be lifting the weight limit Dr. Gorma set for me." He pulls away from Allura to step toward Lance, "And just for your smart mouth Lieutenant, you will be joining me."

Allura laughs as Lance grimaces. Keith turns back to her and plants a kiss on her forehead before turning away and grabbing Lance by the arm to leave the control room.

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Keith holds Allura to his chest that night, able for the first time to use both of his hands to hold her there. He has one arm wrapped around her waist while the other is gently teasing the skin on her arm. Not that Allura is noticing, for she is sound asleep in his arms.

A feeling of contentment infuses Keith, a feeling he hasn't experienced in the years since Andrea's death. Closing his eyes, he gently falls asleep to the sweet smell of Allura's hair.

His mind drifts in sleep and soon…

_Keith is once again in a meadow of flowers. He looks at all the flowers around him before noticing a figure walking towards him from across the field. With the sun in his eyes, Keith is having trouble making out the identity of the figure until she is almost standing in front of him. Keith's breath stops in his throat as he manages to whisper, "Andrea…"_

_Wearing a simple emerald green, sleeveless sun dress with her ebony hair flowing down her back, Andrea smiles as she stops in front of him, "Hello Keith…" Reaching up, she caresses his cheek. Keith places his hand on top of hers and reaches out with his other hand to touch her cheek as he says, "I've missed you."_

_Andrea smiles at him then steps back from his hands, "I know…but it is time for you to let me go and move on with your life."_

_Keith looks away from her for a moment. He studies the flowers near his feet then turns his gaze back to her, "I need your permission Andrea…to ask Allura to be my wife."_

_A sad smile crosses Andrea's face as she steps to him again, "You don't need my permission…all I have ever wanted for you is to find happiness and love again." She reaches for his cheek again, "I know you loved me Keith…part of you always will. But she is your soul mate, the woman you were meant to share your life with. You need to embrace that and enjoy your life. Do not feel guilty for the life we lost…it was not meant to be."_

_Dropping her hand, Andrea leans forward and places a kiss on his cheek before turning to walk away from him. She stops a few feet away and turns to face him once more, "Goodbye…" and vanishes._

Keith's eyes open and he lifts his head up to look around the moonlit room. Letting out a deep breath, Keith moves one of his hands to wipe the tears out of his eyes as he listens to Allura sigh and murmur in her sleep.

Moving his hand back to her hair, Keith tangles his fingers in the silky strands and lets out another deep breath as his heart slows down, the dream slowly leaving him. Turning his head, Keith places a kiss on the top of Allura's head and whispers, "I love you…" before closing his eyes and falling back to sleep.


	11. Chapter 11

Welcome to the final chapter of Soul Mates. Many thanks again to my reviewers, cheerleaders, and the ladies that help me with editing the stories.

I make no claims to Voltron or any WEP characters.

Enjoy Chapter 11

Until next time…

Mertz

A week later…Keith knocks on Allura's bedroom door and enters when bidden. His eyes travel around the room to find her sitting at her vanity brushing out her hair. Spotting Keith in her mirror, Allura places the hair brush back down, turning around to smile at him.

He walks forward and stops just before her, his eyes studying every detail of the simple dress Allura is wearing. Deep blue in color, the sleeveless dress is cut low to the top of her breasts and gathers under them before the skirt flows to the floor. Her long blond hair is loose and flowing down her back as she stands up to finish the few steps to reach him.

Wrapping her arms around him, Allura looks up into Keith's face and smiles before leaning up on her toes to kiss his lips. Keith sighs then deepens the kiss, his tongue lightly probing her mouth and teasing her tongue into playing with his.

Allura releases everything and lets her pleasure flow out to Keith as his hands move up along her arms and his fingers lightly tease the skin as they drift back down. She shivers slightly at the touch then moans as Keith's pleasure reciprocates and fills her mind, spreading throughout her body.

Keith echoes her moans as her arousal infuses his mind and spreads out to his body while his lower body comes alive and starts throbbing. With some regret, Keith pulls away from Allura and almost laughs at the look of disappointment on her face.

Leaning down, he kisses her softly on the lips once more then tells her, _'If we keep this up we won't even get out of this room.'_

Allura lets out a sigh as she reaches up with her hand to caress his cheek, _'I wouldn't mind…'_

A wry smile crosses Keith's lip as he takes her hand and pulls her toward the door, "Then you wouldn't get your surprise."

As expected, Allura pulls on his hand to try to get him to turn around again; her face is animated as she asks in an excited voice, "What surprise?"

Keith smiles broadly as he turns back around to her and arches an eyebrow, "It wouldn't be a surprise if I told you, now would it?"

He starts laughing at the look on her face and leans down to kiss her lightly on the lips again, _'You will get it soon enough my love.'_

Allura nods then pulls him to the door, _'Let's go then, I want to see my surprise.'_

Keith chuckles all the way out the door then takes over leading Allura down the hall.

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Keith leads Allura to entrance to the garden and stops to look back at her, "Close your eyes."

Allura arches an eyebrow at him and Keith laughs more as he puts his fingers gently on her eyelids, "Close them."

Letting out a sigh, Allura does as requested and Keith leads her out the door and down into the gardens. Once they are in the middle, he turns to Allura, "Open your eyes love."

Allura opens her eyes. Surprise and happiness fill her as she looks around the garden. Allura looks at Keith and as her happiness projects to him, he smiles in return. She turns around as she looks about, the garden had been decorated in fairy lights that lit up the trees and bushes, making everything feel magical to her.

Keith leaves her for a moment as she continues to look around and walks over to the side wall to press a button. Soft music fills the night air as Allura turns to Keith with tears in her eyes while he walks back to her, _'It's wonderful Keith!'_ She wraps her arms around him and Keith holds her close to him for a moment before pulling her hands up into a dance frame to waltz her around the garden path.

Moving along the path to the sound to the music, Allura closes her eyes and rest her head on Keith's shoulder, inhaling his spicy scent. Keith pulls her body tighter to his in the dance so there is no space between them.

Allura lifts her face and kisses Keith's neck as his hand moves down her back, gently caressing her through the fabric of her dress. A quiet whimpering sound escapes Allura as Keith stops dancing and stares down into her eyes.

Leaning fully against Keith, Allura kisses Keith's chin before pressing her lips to his. Keith stays still, allowing Allura to kiss him then he pulls away from her. Confused, Allura looks up at him, _'Keith?'_

Taking her hand within his, Keith pulls Allura off the garden path to her swing. He stops in front of it and gestures with his hand for Allura to take a seat. Allura sits down and looks up at Keith apprehensively. She relaxes when she sees a smile on his lips before he kneels down on one knee in front of her.

"Allura, I didn't think I could find happiness again. In fact, I tried to avoid it because I was afraid to be hurt again." Keith reaches out to take her hand within his as he looks deeply into her eyes, "I love you. It has taken me a long time to realize how much you mean to me and how sad and lonely life would be without you."

Keith reaches into his pocket to withdraw a small gift box. Gently he lifts the lid before turning to present it to her, "Would you do me the honor of becoming my wife?"

Tears run down Allura's face as she takes the box from Keith with shaking fingers. Inside is a beautiful silver ring with a diamond solitaire in its center. Intricate designs in the metal crisscross around two smaller diamonds at each side.

Unable to speak, Allura nods and then launches herself at Keith, wrapping her arms around his neck as her lips find his. He catches her but loses his balance and both fall back onto the ground. Keith breaks the kiss laughing at her enthusiasm as she continues to place kisses all over his face.

She finally stops so she can stare down into his eyes, "I love you Keith Kogane…Commander of the Voltron Force and captain of my heart."

Keith leans up and kisses her lightly on the lips before pushing her up, "Let me up love."

Feeling slightly disappointed, Allura rolls off of Keith and sits beside him as he sits up. He takes the ring box from Allura then pulls the ring out of it. Taking her hand within his, Keith places the ring on her finger then kisses it before pulling Allura to him to kiss her again.

Allura sighs as she wraps her arms around Keith's neck again, wrapping her fingers into his silky hair. Just as Keith is about to deepen the kiss, Allura pulls away from him. He watches her stand up then holds a hand down to him.

Keith rises and Allura walks him backward to the swing. _'Sit down my love…'_ Arching a brow, Keith looks behind him as he grasps the ropes of the swing in his hands while sitting down on the seat. Smiling down at him, Allura kicks off her shoes. Lifting her skirt and sliding first one leg then the other around Keith, she sits in front of him on the swing, groin to groin, her legs dangling behind him.

Feeling his desire firing up, Keith feels Allura's lips on his before her voice fills his mind commanding him, _'Swing us.'_

Keith pushes off with his feet and leans forward with the swing then back as they move ahead. Allura moves her body along with the motions of the swing and soon they are rubbing against each other with the movements of the swing.

A deep groan escapes Keith as Allura rubs against his groin as she leans back to follow the movements of the swing. He feels himself hardening to the point of throbbing and projects his longing to Allura who gasps as his desire fills her mind and body.

She feels his hardness rub against her core with the movements of the swing and Allura leans forward to wrap her arms around Keith's neck while pressing her lips to his. His tongue pushes into her mouth, stroking her tongue and eliciting a low whimpering sound from her.

Allura wraps her legs around Keith's waist to eliminate any space between them. She fully feels his groin rubbing against hers and feels her nipples harden while a fiery heat fills her nether regions. Her longing fills Keith's mind and he abruptly stops the swing.

Breaking the kiss, Allura asks as she looks into his eyes, _'What's wrong?'_

Keith leans forward and kisses her lips softly before responding to her as he rises with her still in his arms, _'We need to get more comfortable to finish this…'_ and walks toward the back of the garden. Allura curls her fingers into Keith's hair, enjoying the luxurious softness of it as she moves her lips to his neck, kissing him there.

He moves faster when he feels Allura pull his ear lobe between her lips and suck on it. Reaching his destination, Keith lowers himself to his knees then lays Allura back onto the blanket while letting his full weight push into her.

Allura looks away from his neck to look around her. Surrounded by tiki torches, she is surprised to find herself lying on a blanket in a quiet corner at the back of the garden. She looks back into his eyes, a questioning look on her face, "How?"

Keith smiles tenderly at her, "I was hoping you would say yes…and planned for it." He dips his head down and kisses her, his tongue sweeping into her mouth. Allura responds to the kiss enthusiastically before Keith pulls away from her to search her eyes, _'Is this what you want Allura? To make love with me? Or would you rather wait and move slower?'_

Sapphire blue eyes fill with tenderness as Allura reaches up with her hand to caress Keith's cheek, _'I want nothing more than to be one with you…my love…my soul mate.'_ Keith turns his head to kiss the palm of her hand before lowering himself down to kiss Allura's lips again.

A bit surprised, Keith feels Allura's tongue plunge into his mouth to engage his in a war to control the kiss. He rotates his hips, grinding his groin into Allura's, causing her to gasp against his mouth and a raging desire rushes through her body and into his.

Rolling slightly onto his side with Allura, Keith reaches behind and pulls the zipper on Allura's dress down her back then pushes her onto her back again as he continues kissing her. Sliding his hands up her arms, Keith grasps the shoulder straps to her dress and pulls them down her arms.

Allura pulls her arms out of the straps and listens to Keith's soft groan as her naked breasts press into his chest. She hears his question in her mind as he pulls up to look into her eyes, _'No bra love?'_

A bright, seductive smile crosses her lips as she leans up to kiss Keith's mouth, _'No undergarments at all…you weren't the only one hoping for something tonight.'_

She almost laughs at the groan that statement elicits from Keith as his hand moves down to pull her skirt up and his fingers move around to cup her naked bottom. Allura sighs as Keith moves his lips to her neck while those fingers massage the soft skin of her buttocks. The sigh becomes a moan as Keith rotates his hips to move against her once more.

Allura reaches between them to work on the buttons on Keith's shirt. He sits up slightly to give Allura better access. As the buttons come undone, Allura pushes the shoulders of the shirt off, exposing Keith's chest. He lies back down on top of her and the feeling of her chest against his creates a deep longing within Keith to bury himself inside of her.

Pushing the feeling away, Keith places a kiss on Allura's lips then moves along her jaw down to her neck. Continuing to kiss his way down to her chest; Keith pauses a moment to study the beauty in front of him before lowering his lips to a hardened nipple.

He listens to Allura suck in a deep breath as he suckles on the nipple of one breast. Moving his hand, Keith starts massaging the other then groans as Allura's pleasure saturates his core. His tenuous control starting to slip, Keith lowers his hand between Allura's legs and slips a finger along her slit.

Allura groans with the pleasure and bucks her hips up at Keith while her fingers find their way into his hair and she pulls on it lightly. As another dose of Allura's pleasure and desire rockets through Keith, his control completely slips.

Pulling himself away from Allura, Keith yanks his boots off then stands to work on his pants. Allura pushes her dress off of her body, admiring Keith's physique as it is exposed to her. Once fully nude, Keith lies back down on top of Allura, his mouth attaching to hers as he pushes her legs apart with his knees to settle more fully between her legs.

Allura wraps her legs around Keith and pulls herself up against his shaft in invitation. Groaning against her mouth, Keith reaches between them to guide himself into her warmth. Pushing slowly, Keith grits his teeth with the pleasure he is receiving as Allura's tight vaginal walls squeeze around him.

As his pleasure mounts, it flows through Allura, who throws her head back with the combined pleasure she is experiencing. When Keith bumps against her virginity, he takes a deep breath, _'This may hurt for a moment…'_

Allura doesn't respond to him, she reaches down instead to pull on his hips. Taking the hint, Keith pulls back then plunges into her. As Allura cries out in pain, Keith sucks in a deep breath, the pain Allura is feeling shooting out through their link and fills Keith's mind and body with agony, making him swear, "Son of a bitch!"

Keith looks down into Allura's face to find tears slowly slipping out of her tightly clenched eyelids and running down into her hair. He takes several deep breaths to get the pain under control within himself before releasing a feeling of calmness to Allura, who hasn't moved.

Staying as still as possible within Allura, Keith leans down to lightly kiss her lips, _'Allura…open your eyes and look at me love.'_

Watery blue eyes open and Keith uses his fingers to wipe her tears away, _'I'm sorry love…I had no idea it would hurt you that bad.'_

Allura leans forward to push her face into Keith's neck as the pain between her legs slowly recedes and a pleasant pressure takes its place. She relaxes her body slowly then finally replies to Keith, _'I'm sorry…I know you felt my pain.'_

She listens to a soft chuckle leave Keith and pulls her face away from his neck to look back into his dark eyes as he says, "You hurt, I hurt…" before leaning down to kiss her.

As he deepens the kiss, Keith pulls slowly out of Allura before driving back into her with equal speed. He hears a slight gasp of pain and feels it within his own body before pulling back slowly to do it again, reaching out to Allura with his pleasure.

The mixture of emotions overrides Allura until only the pleasure remains and she once again wraps her legs around Keith's hips to urge him to move faster. He obliges her and begins to thrust harder and faster, her cries of pleasure echoing in his ears and in his mind.

Feeling himself nearing the edge, Keith reaches out again to Allura, _'Please love…I need you to join me…'_ He pushes all of his pleasure out to her and feels her pull in a deep breath while her vaginal walls begin to squeeze him in climax.

Letting out a deep guttural groan, Keith releases his own climax as he buries his face into Allura's neck. Several moments of silence pass, but inside, Keith feels a humming vibration coming from her. Lifting his head, Keith looks down into Allura's peaceful face.

Leaning down, he lightly kisses her closed eyelids before moving to her lips. As she responds to him, Keith sends out, _'I swear if you were a cat, you'd be purring.'_

He starts laughing as Allura purrs at him before he pulls himself out of her and rolls to his back, taking her with him. Allura looks down at him from her place on his chest, _'Outside of the initial pain…that was wonderful.'_

Keith smiles at her as he moves his hand to stroke her hair, "Next time there will be no pain…only pleasure."

Allura smiles then her brow furrows at the sudden change of expression on Keith's face, "What's wrong?"

Keith looks uncomfortable for a moment before clearing his throat, "You wouldn't happen to be on birth control…would you Allura?"

Shaking her head, Allura asks, "Why?"

A groan leaves Keith, "The shared pleasure killed my self-control off and I forgot about the condom in my pocket."

Allura's eyebrows go up with understanding, "Oh…"

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Nine months later:

Keith smiles as he gazes down at his sleeping wife. Her exhaustion was understandable given what she had just been through. He turns his eyes away from her to look at the small bundle in his arms. As his newborn son moves in his arms and opens his sapphire blue eyes to look at his father, Keith feels a peace within himself that he didn't know was possible.

Moving across the room, he sits down in the rocking chair that was moved into the room last week and smiles as his son yawns, "My son…I'm going to let you in on a little secret." He snuggles the baby closer to him as he makes a fussing sound, "You know…I've always been amazed by the idiotic advice you receive from people sometimes. Look before you leap, take time to smell the roses, think before you speak, life's too short and don't take things for granted. But then I am also amazed by how sometimes the small things can change the course of your life. If I had only turned left instead of right or stopped when the light turned yellow instead of pressing harder on the gas pedal." A brief pause, "Or had remembered the empty milk container at home when I was at the grocery store instead of having to stop by a minimart on the way home… Small things…sometimes things that seem so inconsequential at the time, but can cause such drastic changes when one least expects it."

He stops speaking as he places a kiss on his son's head, "It's those little things that you need to watch out for my son, for they are what brought your mother and I together." Keith looks up as a soft voice enters his mind, _'Do you regret those small things love?'_

Smiling, Keith stands and walks across the room to Allura. He sits down on the bed next to her and while placing their son beside her, Keith bends over to kiss his wife, _'Not in a million years my love. They brought me to you and I love you with every breath that I take. I cannot regret anything that brought me to you, my love…my soul mate.'_


End file.
